Vile's Redemption
by SpydaBass
Summary: After Vile's third reactivation goes totally wrong, the former tyrant becomes a calm pacifist. Can he redeem himself, or will he be doomed as a reploid paraiah for the rest of his days? (Finished! Please R&R!)
1. A Maniac in Shambles

**Chapter One: A Maniac in Shambles**

* * *

The blue reploid was searching through the rubble of Doppler's laboratory. He was ripping through the junk, trying desperately to find anything his Master could use. But again, he saw nothing but ripped-up shreds of paper.

"C'mon, I need to find something... Master Sigma will hang me by my underwear..."

The reploid searched through the twisted pieces of scrap metal once again, hoping to find something worthwile. Once again, he found nothing but tire halves and moldy lab equipment. The reploid had just about given up all hope.

"Hey, T-18. Let's just call it quits. There's nothing left of value here," the reploid called.

His partner looked upset. "Aww, c'mon T-17. Can we look for just a little longer? There has to be SOMETHING that Sigma will be interested in..."

T-17 shook his slender head. "Nah, no use. This laboratory dump is just full of dirty-"

His voice halted when he glanced at the figure laying before him. It was a reploid, no doubt - but this was one he'd seen many times before. How could he forget - the menacing long arms, the menacing strong and well-build plasma shoulder cannon, and the... uh, menacing (sorry, shortage of adjectives) Boba Fett-like face mask. This could only be - it had to be -

"General Vile!"

T-17 looked upon his former General with distinct awe. He was reported to be destroyed for good by Megaman X after Dr. Doppler revived him. But somehow, his superior's body was not destroyed - however, it was in horrible condition. His arms and legs were separated from his tattered torso, and his head was smashed and broken down.

The reploid was enthralled. This was his big chance! If he delivered the body of Vile to Sigma, he would certainly be heavily rewarded! This was his break!

"T-18! Get the garbage bag over here! I've found something!"

T-18 could tell by the tone of his partner's voice that he had found something important. He grabbed the bulky garbage bag and ran over to where T-17 was kneeling over.

"What did you find? Something good?" T-18 said eagerly. His excited partner didn't even listen to him and hastily grabbed the garbage bag out of his hand. He discarded the contents (a couple of Time magazines and a diseased basketball half) and began hurling Vile's parts into the bag. He took out the twistie thing and tightened it around the opening of the bag. Hurredley, he ran to his parked Land Chaser and hopped aboard.

"T-18! Follow me to the base! I'll explain everything when we get back!" T-17 fired up his Chaser and sped off down the dirt road, bag in hand.

T-18 couldn't help but be astonished at his partner's actions. He had obviously found something of great value if he had to rush into his Chaser and leave his partner in the dark.

Sighing, T-18 hopped onto his Land Chaser and sped off in the direction that his partner had gone.  
  


* * *

  


"Alright, that does it! SONIC BOOM!!!"

"Ohh, Mr. Big Shot, huh? Eat this... Shoyruken!"

"Damn! You're so cheap with that move!"

"Well, it's the only one I know."

"Then learn some more, you friggin idiot!"

Maverick Hunters Megaman X and Glacier Dragoon were sitting in their quarters playing Street Fighter 2 Turbo for the seventh consecutive time. X seemed much more agitated than usual this morning.

"Jeez X, you don't have to be so cruel just because Dr. Cain scolded you for doodling on the experimental capsules again."

"Jezziz, that old geezer has to chill. He really gets on my nerves."

"Well, yeah, but you wouldn't be alive now if it weren't for him."

"Like I give a flying..."

Before X could finish, there was a knock at the door.

"I've got it, don't worry," X said. He paused the game and ran over to the door. When he opened it, a familiar crimson-colored blonde-haired reploid was standing before him, his hair dangling to his knees. X recognized him immediatley.

"Hey, Zero. How's it goin?"

Zero looked a little upset. "Not great. Glacier, your brother was just yelling at me and ordered me to get you. He needs you in the Training Room. I think he muttered something about a 'swift Hadoken to the ass' or something, so you'd better get up there."

Glacier gave a big sigh. He was the brother of Magma Dragoon, the strongest of the Dragoon reploids. Glacier always felt sort of intimidated by Magma, who spent much of his time forcing his little brother into strict boot camp-style training.

"Ugh.... alright, fine. Hey Zero, ya wanna come with me? I've got some awesome moves to show you..... pleeeease...."

Zero gave him an awkward glance. The ambitious Glacier Dragoon idolized Zero in every possible way, which really annoyed him sometimes. Zero would tell him off, but Glacier was surprisingly sensitive.

"Nah, I'm gonna stay here for a little while, Glacier. You go train with your brother."

Glacier's heart sank. He loved training with Zero around, because it always gave him a chance to show how powerful he really was, even though he was only in the 12th Unit of the Hunters. Without saying anything, Glacier dashed out of the room and ran upstairs.

Zero gave a sigh when Glacier was out of sight. "Jeez, I feel sorry for that kid. He's gotta feel bad with a brother like Magma...."

X shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, he'll get over it," he said nonchalantly. He looked down to the floor with his shoulders hunched over.

Zero looked at X with a concerned expression on his face. "X, what's with you? You've been acting all weird and agitated over the past week. What's up?"

X didn't look at Zero, but rather aimed his gaze to the floor. "Well, it's kind of silly..... but..."

"What? What is it?" Zero said, stepping toward X.

"Well.... it's just that I've been thinking about the whole Sigma thing. He's been pretty silent lately after the whole Doppler incident," X wearily said.

Zero smiled. "Don't worry, X. Sigma ain't coming back for a long time. We took him down with the Virus vaccine, remember?"

X still looked worried. "Yeah, I know, but Sigma always has a way of coming back. I have a weird feeling that he's alive as we speak, plotting some sort of insane plan to destroy humanity."

"Well..... I wouldn't worry about it," Zero said. "Even if Sigma does come back, we'll be more than ready for him. We've been training like hell, and I don't think he'd stand a chance." He gave X a pat on the back. "Now c'mon, I think the Doc might need some help cleaning the experimental capsules again."

Zero got up and sped out the door. But even with his comforting words, X couldn't help but feel worried.

"I know you're out there, Sigma, and I'll be ready for you...."

He slowly got up and left the room, keeping the lights on.  



	2. Sigma's Plan

**Chapter 2: Sigma's Plan**

* * *

T-17 and T-18 continued to walk down the hallway to Sigma's quarters. The taller, slender reploid, T-17, was carrying a large garbage bag on his shoulders, which carried the remains of Vile.

"So explain this to me again," the fatter, shorter reploid said. "You're telling me that you found the remains of General Vile, and his body parts are dangling around in that bag right now?"

"For the last damn time, YES!" shouted T-17. "I don't know how his body managed to stay intact, but it just did. Stop asking me questions."

T-18 had been asking his partner questions the whole way to Sigma's Fortress, and the slim reploid couldn't stand it anymore. All he was interested in was getting Vile's remains to Sigma and receiving his big reward.

After a little walking down the corridor, they finally came across the entrance to Sigma's chambers. They remembered, of course, that getting to talk to Sigma in his room face-to-face was no easy task. They had to have a good reason in order to gain clearance from the guard. The guard shifts changed every 5 hours, and T-17 had decided to go during Commander Violen's shift, since he was very easy to convince.

But when they got there, instead of Commander Violen, they noticed a different figure standing there. His purple robotic body was hunched over awkwardly, and he had a short, wily white beard and mustache on his old-looking face. It was no doubtebly the strict Sergeant Serges.

"Sergeant Serges! Wha... I thought your shift was earlier this morning! Where's Commander Violen???" said T-17, riddled with shock.

Serges gave an evil smile. "Surprised, huh? Unfortunatley, Violen fell victim to a little 'accident' this morning when he mistakably ate half of Agile's ham and cheese sandwich. So I'm in charge for the rest of the day."

T-18 was scratching his head in a vain attempt to understand the situation. His partner, on the other hand, was extremely upset. He knew that Serges was the toughest nut to crack when it came to convincing. But he had to try his best.

Serges smirked at him. "So, what business do you have with Master Sigma? This better be good....."

T-17 gulped. What was he gonna say?

"Er... um.... well, Sergeant, we have very important business with Master Sigma... we've retrieved an invaluable item from the remains of Doppler's laboratory, and we need to present it to him as soon as possible....."

Serges gave a small chuckle. "Sorry, I won't accept that old story. And anyway, Master Sigma is very busy right now."

T-17 glared at Serges angrily. "Busy? What would Sigma be doing that's so important at a time like this???"

Serges gave a strange glance of embarrassment. "Well.... he's listening to Guns N' Roses."

T-17's face went numb. He knew what Master Sigma did to his colleagues when they bothered him while listening to Guns N' Roses. Just last week, he saw one of his co-workers get his head sliced clear off his body after he disturbed Sigma while he was listening to My Michelle. T-17 certainly didn't want to meet the same fate. 

"Well.... please Sergeant Serges, we need to talk to Master Sigma. Our discovery is extremely rare.... Master Sigma needs to know about it. Please, we need to pass through!" T-17 was desperate now. He'd do almost anything to get through that door. 

Serges furrowed his brow, obviously in deep thought. "Hmm.... well.... alright, I guess I can give you clearance for now." 

T-17 gave a deep sigh, not realizing that Serges wasn't finished. 

"BUT-," said the reploid, "if you go in there, and disturb the Master, and he blames the ordeal on me..... I'll make sure that BOTH of you are deactivated. PERMANANTLEY. That is, of course, Sigma doesn't take care of you first." 

T-17 was extremely nervous now. What if he screwed up, and ended up as a pile of scrap metal? But he then remembered Vile's parts. He reminded himself that his plan wouldn't fail. 

Serges slowly opened the door. As the two reploids slowly walked in, the Sergeant quicky closed it, knocking them both into the room. T-17 was startled, but luckily, Sigma hadn't noticed. 

Their reploid master was sitting in a large swivel chair, singing loudly to himself. It was impossible to avoid the terrible screeches Sigma was bellowing out. 

As the two slowly walked up to the chair, they began to hear the loud music coming from Sigma's enourmous headphones. T-17 slowly walked up, keeping T-18 behind him. 

"Err.... Master Sigma?" 

"TAKE ME DOWN TO THE PARADISE CITYYYYY......." 

"Master Sigma???" 

".....AND THE GIRLS ARE PRETTTTTYYYYY........ YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

"MASTER SIGMA!!!" 

Sigma suddenly stopped, obviously hearing T-17's loud yell through his headphones. He quickly jerked the chair around and faced both of them, with an angry expression on his scarred robotic face. 

"What is it, you fools???" he said loudly. He took his headphones off and threw them angrily to the ground. "What on God's green Earth would possess you into disturbing me during an important time like this???" 

T-17 felt like a little mouse trapped in a cage when he heard Sigma bellow out. He was almost speechless. However, he did manage to release some stuttering words. 

"M-Master Sigma..... my p-partner and I found something v-very important in the r-ruins of Dr. Doppler's l-laboratory..... i-it's in this b-bag....." 

Sigma was livid. He didn't understand what could possibly be more important than his precious time with Guns N' Roses. 

"Fine then! If it's so damn important, show me what it is! And if this just another Time magazine, then you're asses will be on a silver pla-" 

Sigma suddenly froze as T-17 pulled out the smashed head of a very familiar reploid. Sigma looked in awe as the tall reploid continued to take out all of the reploid's body parts and place them neatly on the floor. Slowly, Sigma crouched down to take a look at his former right-hand man. 

"V-VILE???? This.... this isn't possible! Vile..... he was destroyed......" Sigma stared at the shattered reploid armor, his mouth gaping. 

T-17 nodded his head. "That's what we thought too, Master Sigma.... but apparently, his body wasn't completely terminated...." 

Sigma slowly lifted the head of the once-honorable repliod. His thoughts were bouncing back and forth through the depths of his robotic brain. _Vile, alive? One of the most powerful generals of all time, the psychotic killer, feared by both humans and Hunters? Vile???_ He just couldn't convince himself it was true, even though the evidence was sitting right in front of him. It was almost too good to be real. 

The astonished reploid leader hit himself hard against his chest, just to make sure that this wasn't all a crazy dream or some awkward programming glitch in his systems. Seeing that the image was still there in front of him, he released a large smile from his scarred face. 

Without thinking, Sigma whirred around and hastily jumped off his chair, falling flat on his face. T-17 managed to hold in a chuckle, knowing that it wouldn't really help him out at the time. 

Feeling a little silly, Sigma quickly leapt to his feet. He ignored his foolish stunt and ran over to a phone on the wall. He dialed with quick succession as T-17 and T-18 looked on. The excited reploid finally stopped, listening to the phone ring. T-17 listened to Sigma carefully. 

"Hello, Agile? This is Master Sigma. I want you to get me the best reploid repairmen in the building and bring them to me. And call those guys who create reploid memory chips. We have an emergency rebuilding to perform!" 

Sigma slammed the phone down and ran back to his large swivel chair. He took out a piece of paper and began to frantically scribble down notes. 

As Sigma appeared to be busy, T-17 walked towards him, not totally sure if he should say anything or not. However, he decided quickly. 

"Well... Master Sigma.... we *ahem* hope you're satisfied..... *ahem* *ahem*......." 

Sigma glanced back at his two lackeys. "What? Oh yes, your rewards... well, you two have found me something truly priceless... and you know what THAT means....." 

The reploids' faces lit up. Sigma put down his notepad and stuffed his hand into his cloak pocket. T-17 and T-18 waited patiently as he moved his hand around, trying hard to find what he was looking for. 

"Ahh, here it is," the reploid leader said. "Alright you two, put out your hands." 

The two awaiting cronies eagerly put their hands out. Sigma, rather than giving them a wad of cash as they had hoped, put two little ring-shaped candies into each of their hands. The reploids didn't understand the meaning of it. 

"There you go," Sigma stated, "two Live Savers each. You've both earned it." 

T-17's mouth was open in shock. "Th...this is it??? But we found something of great impor-" 

"DON'T QUESTION MY INTEGRITY!!!" Sigma shouted. "Now get out of my sight! My business with both of you is over! Now MOVE!" 

At the time, T-17 felt like beating the bloody hell out of his noble Master. However, knowing that his chances of beating Sigma were the same as surviving a jump into a steaming vat of sulfuric acid, he reluctantly held back. Instead, he motioned to his partner to follow him as he walked angrily out the door. Sigma could almost hear T-18 say something like "There's always Daytona" to T-17, followed by a swift hit to the fat reploid's head, no doubtedly from his partner. 

Sigma redirected his attention to his note writing. When he finished, he turned his head and picked up all of Vile's parts. 

"Yes, Vile..... don't worry, your body will soon be reactivated... you will be more evil than ever, with a new Goliath and a stronger thirst for human blood... and finally, we will destroy all of humanity!!!" Sigma suddenly paused when he remembered something else. 

"That is...... once I've finished listening to Guns N' Roses." 


	3. Maverick Arrivals

**Note from the Almighty Spyda:** Hello, readers! A little note before we bring yeh into the next chapter. **Axle the Red** and **Dark Dizzy** will be referred to in their Japanese names, Spike Rosered and Dark Necrobat. Personally, I think these names make much more sense than the GNR names... anyway, time to continue with the story! Huzzah! 

**Chapter 3: Maverick Arrivals**

* * *

"Damn, all this walking.... it isn't fair......" 

A sleek plantlike reploid was walking tiredly down the twisting road which led to the hidden fortress of Sigma's army. His two colleagues were flying gracefully above him, having a grand old time, barely making sure to not fly too far away from their stressed cronie. In fact, they might as well have just ditched the plant man by the pace they were going. 

"Hey! Come back here, you little S.O.Bs!!!" the distressed reploid yelled. He was, unfortunatley for him, the only one of the three who didn't have wings. He also hated long walks more than anything. What a nasty combination. 

At this point, the lone Maverick was running like hell, shouting profanities to his so-called friends. It took them a little while to realize that their rose-headed buddy was ready to mercilessly kill both of them slowly and painfully. 

One of the flying Mavericks, an awkward-looking stingray with large wings and a twisting tail, looked back at his colleague and chuckled a bit. "Poor, poor little Spikey..... hey Necrobat, think we should slow down a little for Rosebud?" 

The other Maverick, a large, winged purple bat with long, menacing fangs, snickered. "Nah, I'm having too much fun with this. Anyway, I'm curious on how many more profanities he can spin out...." 

The plant Maverick was still shouting. "....with your mother's damn tampon!" he finished, barely able to breathe. He finally stopped his frantic running and swearing and leaned over to catch his breath. He was fed up with his partners. 

"Alright.... if this is the way it has to be..." 

Rather than continue chasing the two renegade reploids, the lone Maverick stuck his hands out in their direction. As his hands slowly sucked themselves into his arms, he made sure to carefully aim his arms at the two. The Maverick smiled as two long, spiky vines shot out of his arms and wrapped themselves around his partner's necks. 

From a distance, he still could hear his colleauge's choked gagging sounds. The mutant Maverick loved every moment of it. He savored it by wriggling his hands around, causing the vines to slither around the poor victim's necks. 

When he believed his comrades had had enough, he tugged on the vines as forcefully as he could. The two were pulled strongly to the ground below, landing right in front of the mutated plant reploid. The vines suddenly jerked the two upward, so that they were directly facing him. 

"So," the plant reploid said, smirking. "We like abandoning our partners, do we? He he he......" 

The two were now tugging on the vines as hard as they could. The stingray reploid, who was no doubtebley pulling the hardest, managed to partially slip his head out of the bottom of the spiked death cord. The plant reploid quickly corrected this by strangling the stingray much more forcefully than before. 

"Naughty, naughty boy.... wait till I'm finished.... alright you two... you're both gonna walk with good ol' Rosey rather than flying off into freakin nowhere... and if you do fly off again, you'll face the consequences..... do we understand?" 

The two reploids weakly nodded. 

Rosered smiled. "Excellent..... now let's get our arses in gear." 

He dropped his partners to the ground, recoiling his vines in the process. After his hands were rejuvinated, he continued to walk down the dirt road, leaving his comrades behind him. 

The bat reploid, still stroking his neck, spoke first. "What an ass." 

The stingray shook his head in agreement. "Yeah, and he smells worse than a... ummmmm........" 

"A Chinese train station?" The bat piped in. 

"Yeah, that'll do," the stingray agreed. 

While the two were lifting themselves up, the bat remembered something. 

"Uhhh.... hey Jet, do you have the map?" he asked his partner. 

The stingray scratched his rounded head. "Well... no, I thought you had it." 

The bat looked worried. "Well, Spike gave it to one of us... I thought he gave it to you...." 

Jet gulped. Their mutant plant partner, Spike Rosered, had given them both a map to Sigma's Headquarters. He had told them the gruesome details of exactly what would happen to them if it was lost. Jet Stingray, who was worried out of his mind, decided that they'd better tell Spike exactly what had happened. 

"Uhh..... Spike? Yoo hoo?" Jet called out. "We.... have something to discuss about the map..." 

Spike jerked his rose-topped head around. "Heh... you lost it, didn't you?" 

Dark Necrobat, their batlike partner, gulped. "H... how did you know, Spike?" 

The thorned green face smiled. "Simple.... I have it right here." Rosered dangled the dirty piece of parchment in front of him. "And it doesn't matter, anyway. We've already reached our destination. Look." 

Spike pointed a short white finger to a far-off clearing. When his colleagues walked over to get a closer look, they realized that Rosered wasn't bluffing. There were several tall towers in the distance, all with shimmering lights flashing beautifully in a dazzling array of crimson and gold. The towers themselves were shimmering silver and shone brightly against the light of the sun. There was a total of five towers, with four on the outer rim and the biggest and tallest planted in the middle. It was amazing that a spectacle this large could go totally undetected by all searchers and radars, but there it was, untouched by humans nor Hunters. 

Rosered was delighted. "This is excellent. We've been waiting for this moment since the day of our creation... to be in the great Sigma's Maverick army...." He looked like he was going to burst out in tears, but he managed to supress the feeling. 

Jet's ambitious nature took over again. "Well, Spike, may I ask how we're supposed to get down there?" he asked. It took an instant to realize that he had just made a huge boo-boo. 

Spike gave his trademark evil smirk. "Thanks for reminding me, Jet.... now let's get airgliding! We need to hurry to Sigma's before he hires some rookie wusses." 

Jet and Necrobat both sighed heavily. They stood still while Rosered wrapped his green spiked vines around their chests. "Alright you two.... MUSH!!!" he yelled like a man cracking his whip at a stronghold of huskies. 

The two spread their wings and took flight towards the majestic fortress, Spikey in tow.   
  


* * *

  


Magma Dragoon cupped his hands and shouted once again. 

"HADOKEN!!!" 

A wave of hellish flames propelled after Glacier Dragoon, who barely dodged the fierce attack. He jumped to the wall and clung to it as strongly as possible, keeping a keen eye on his brother. A week's worth of traning shown heavily on Glacier's matted azure armor, which had already taken a serious beating from the mighty flames that his bro dished out. The poor dragoon couldn't take the beatings much longer, but still was determined to show Magma that he wasn't a quitter. 

More shouts followed. "HADOKEN! HADOKEN! HADOKEN!!!" 

Glacier winced as three more powerful fire waves lurched rapidly in his direction. He only had one option. It was a desperate attempt, but it was all he had. 

"Uh..... SHOTGUN ICE!!!" the blue dragoon screeched frantically as he shot three large ice blocks towards the flames. Luckily for him, the ice managed to penetrate the fire ever-so-slightly, veering it it the opposite direction. It barely missed the top of Magma's fearsome head. He was not happy about that, and Glacier knew it. 

Before Glacier could register the situation, Magma was already charging the spot where he clung helplessly to the Training Room wall. The azure dragon gave a slient prayer before Magma shouted once again. "RISING FIIIRE!!!!" 

A sharp, burning sensation spread throughout Glacier's chestplate. His brother had just punched him forcefully in the stomach, causing him to gag and wince. As Magma returned to the ground, he smiled as Glacier fell to the ground with a loud clank, clutching his scorched chest. For some awkward reason, Magma found a certain pleasure in it. Seeing his brother wounded badly made him feel powerful, superior.... capable of defeating almost any reploid or Maverick.... 

Glacier looked up at his brother, and for a moment, it looked like Magma was going to kill the injured reploid. He sensed a sort of insanity in his eyes, one he had never really seen before. All he knew was that he had to get up, and do so as quickly as possible. He could see Magma cupping his hands again. Was this the end...? 

"HEY, MAGMA!!! WHAT'RE YA DOIN???" 

Glacier could hear a very familiar voice call out from the far corner of the Training Room. Magma abruptly jerked his head only to see Zero rushing over to the scene. 

"Zero... what do you want now? This is our training time. We don't need any insignificant interruptions." Magma said. 

Zero stopped in front of Glacier. He gave Magma a look of disgust. 

"Magma, you're gonna kill the poor kid. Just look at him. He's almost completely barbacued from what you did to him. Lay off." Zero took a firm stance of authority. 

Magma, lowered his arms, his face livid. "It's the only way he'll learn, Zero. I expect only the best from him. His fighting skills are mediocre at best. That's not acceptable for a Dragoon." He turned his back to both of them and smiled. "Farewell, Zero. I'll leave my brother for you to take care of, if that's what you desire. I'll train alone..." 

The red-clad Dragoon walked away, leaving the Crimson Slayer and Glacier alone. After we had walked out the door, Zero gave a heavy sigh and looked to the injured reploid. "Sorry, Glacier. You and I both know that your brother can be somewhat of a tight ass at times." Zero offered Glacier a hand. 

He took the hand and smiled. "Yeah, tell me about it," he said as he lifted himself up, still clutching his chest. "I really don't know what he expects from me. He believes in all this 'honor of a Dragoon' crap, and it annoys the hell out of me." Glacier decided to not tell Zero of the killing instinct he saw in Magma, since he didn't want to get anyone worried. 

Zero shrugged. "Well, we shouldn't worry about it too much. Let's just get you to the Repair Center. I don't think this would be too hard for the repair technicians to take care of." He smirked. "And I think X is hanging around there too. Cain's punishment. He's gotta clean the patient's bedpans for another three weeks."  
  


* * *

  


X scrubbed as hard as he could, but the benpan stain still wouldn't budge. It seemed imprinted. The Neo Blue Bomber was having the worst day of his life... as usual. 

Dr. Cain kept a watchful eye as X continued to scrub the filthy pans. Though not many of the patients in the Repair Center were human (since humans really aren't really "repaired" anyway), Cain still kept a load of bedpans. X was starting to believe that he had a certain "thing" for them. 

"Alright X, I'm going to return to my quarters. I'll let Jenn keep an eye on you from now on." He gave a small sigh. "I'm very sorry I had to do this, X, but those capsules were very important for my research. And I needed an extra helper, anwyay." 

X gave a nod as Cain walked off. His endless scrubbing was beginning to take its toll on his robotic hands, which were now covered in grime and filth. 

"Jeez... maybe Cain should have spent less money on his friggin bedpans and buy some safety gloves..." X mumbled to no one in particular. His scrubbing was interrupted when Zero opened the Repair Center door. 

"Hey, X! Lookin' great there!" Zero said cheerily. X gave a look of disgust and continued to scrub. 

Zero gave him a pat on the back. "Hey, old buddy! Glacier here needs a band-aid on the boo-boo Magma gave 'em. Could you tell me where Jenn is?" 

X wearily pointed a finger to his left. "Down the hall, second room to the right. She's performing surgery on an apple pie," he said. "Now leave me to my misery." 

"Gladly! Ta ta, old chum!" He motioned for Glacier to follow him as he advanced down the hallway. Glacier's chest was still badly scorched, and he had some trouble getting down the hall. Though the pain wasn't quite as bad, the damage taken had weakened his robotic joints. 

Zero walked back over to Glacier. "Tee hee... sorry, buddy. Forgot about that." He put his arm around Glacier and helped him walk to the room where Jenn resided. 

The Crimson Slayer opened the door slowly, still supporting Glacier with his free arm. The injured blue Dragoon was much heavier than Zero had expected. 

A young woman with short, blonde hair was sitting at the desk. She wore thick, rounded glasses and a long white medical jacket. From Zero's viewpoint, she seemed to be engulfing something in her mouth from behind the desk. 

"Uhhh.... AHEM...." Zero muttered. 

The girl put her head up. In her mouth was a long piece of pie, and it was sticking out a great deal. In her hand was a McDonalds Apple Pie container. 

"Mmph... Oh, iths you Zewo.... Thorry, I'm justh haffing mah desthert..." she mumbled, the apple pie still lodged in her mouth. She turned around quickly and gobbled the whole thing up, bit by bit. She pulled out a small towel and wiped he face before swiveling herchair back around to face the two. 

"Sorry, Zero. I've been very... busy lately." She gave a flustered smile. 

"Yeah, I'm sure you have, Jenn... anyway, Glacier here needs some repairs. His chestplate got scorched by you-know-who, and his joints have gotten weak." Zero motioned to Glacier, who was wriggling around awkwardly. 

Jenn examined him carefully. "Hmm... oh dear... yes, don't worry Mr. Zero, we can get him fixed up without too much trouble. Let me just contact the technicians...." 

As the head of the Maverick Hunter Repair Center, Jenn was always busy. She seemed to act very flustered in the workplace, as many reploids (and sometimes humans) needed attending to around the clock. Due to the battles with his brother, Glacier seemed to become a regular customer there. 

After Jenn's talk with a technician on the other line, she gave the two a smile. "The technicians are on their way, Glacier. They've been busy attending to other matters, so it may take a little while. You can take a seat and relax for a little while, If you want." 

The blue-clad reploid smiled weakly. "Yeah, thanks....." he said as the slowly lowered himself into the cushy warmth of the lounge chair sitting in the office. "Zero, I'll wait here by myself for now. You can get going, if you want." 

Zero unwillingly nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, I'd better keep poor old X some company before he hurts anyone. I hate to leave ya alone, Glaish....." 

Glacier smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine, the technicians will be on their way soon enough. I'm strong enough to wait." 

"Well... alright, If you're alright with it. Just remember to let me know when you've recovered, alright?" 

"No prob." 

Zero smiled as he walked out the door. He proceeded to find X still doing his rightful duties. 

"Having fun, are we?" Zero said playfully. 

X turned around. "Shut yer mouth. Just to let you know, Wiedl came up here a few minutes ago looking for you. He told me to tell you to meet him in his office A.S.A.P. Don't ask me what he wants, because he was in too much of a rush to tell me." 

Zero sighed. "What more does that idiot want from me? He's probably inviting me into his lair to give me another lecture of my "hippy hair" and tell me more about the "secret project" he's developing for Cain. I don't understand why the doc would even trust that guy." 

X kept scrubbing as he spoke. "Nevertheless, you should still see him. He's pretty smart for a psycho. As a matter of fact... most psychos are pretty smart. Kinda like Hannibal Lecter...." 

"Alright, shaddap now," Zero muttered. "I'll go see the damn guy. But I'm getting out of there before he tries to pull any of his crap on me." As he walked out the door, Zero made sure his Z-Saber was firmly inserted into its sheath. Just to be sure.

* * *


	4. The New Recruits

**Chapter 4: The New Recruits**

* * *

Sigma sat in the chair impatiently. It had taken long enough for the emergency technicians to get their arses to his office, and their examination of Vile proved to last for quite a while. Sigma was not in the mood. 

He removed part of his cloak to check the time. 5:00. The examination had already taken about an hour and a half. Impatience was something that Sigma certainly wished he didn't have, but at that moment, he didn't care. He was just desperate to get Vile reassembled quiclky before the Hunters discovered his fortress's location. If that were possible. 

A few minutes later, the doorknob turned. Sigma leaped out of his chair, almost tripping over in his excitement. A sleek, black-coated reploid with the Maverick symbol on his forehead walked out. He held some paper which were assorted neatly in his hands. He gave Sigma a smile from his mettalic face, followed by a salute. 

"Master Sigma, we have all of our necessary infor-" 

"JUST GET TO THE POINT! Can Vile be recovered?" Sigma yelled loudly. 

The medical reploid, feeling a little intimidated and shocked at the same time, gave a small frown and spoke once again. "Well, yes, it is possible. He is going to certainly need new armor, and his shoulder cannon will need some work done on it. I'm not sure how long it will take to make full repairs." 

Sigma smiled. "Excellent. I figure that his new Ride Armor has begun to be developed, like I asked?" 

The black-coated relpoid gave a frown. "Umm... about that... well, it turns out that the materials necessary for creating a new Goliath have been scarce. The last time we had them in our possesion was when Doppler maintained this operation. The only people that have been known to have the necessary materials have been the Maverick Hunters." 

Sigma's brain went abuzz again. _The Maverick Hunters? Yes, I recall them using their Ride Armors against Doppler... it may be very risky to raid their labs, so we may need to use an experienced mercenary..._

Sigma looked to the reploid, still standing by the doorway. "Thank you, M-24. Your business with me has concluded. You may return to your work..." He turned to walk out the door. 

"I'm going to need a strong recruit for a job like this... the Maverick Hunters have to at least be penetrated long enough so that we can make a sneak invasion... but none of my mercenairies are that experienced.." Sigma muttered to himself. He continued this until he felt a tap on his shoulder. 

"Yes? What is it?" Sigma turned to see Admiral Agile, one of the most respected X-Hunters, standing behind him. He gave his Master a salute. 

"Master Sigma, we have hired some new mercenairies. They are highly skilled and will be of great help in achieveing our goal. If you would just allow me to escort you to the bottom floor..." 

"The bottom?! I'm too worn out to travel all those flights of stairs, you idiot!" Sigma blared angrily. "Bring them to my chambers! I will meet them there! Now MOVE IT!!!" 

Agile gave a quick salute. "Y-yes, Master Sigma!" 

And with that, the purple X-Hunter dashed towards the left doorway.  
  


* * *

  


Sigma's head was aching when he opened the door to his chambers. Yelling at his mentally challenged inferiors all day was certainly beginning to take its toll. 

He began to nurse his swelled head while he sat down. Reploid designs unfortunatley had the ability to gain headaches and migranes, just for the sake of making them more humanlike. Sigma felt like sticking his giant Scythe-Saber through whoever came up with that bright idea. The less human, the better, he thought. 

It only took a few minutes before Agile came running back into the room, tired and flustered. He raised his hand in salute once again. "Master Sigma, the new recruits for your army are now here. Let me bring them in... HEY!!! YOU GUYS CAN COME IN NOW!!!!!" 

Sigma's headache got worse from Agile's loud, girlish scream. He quickly forgot about this when he saw three large figures walk in. From where he was seated, he could see a strange-looking plant man, a large stingray, and a purplish bat. It looked like sort of an awkward bunch, but Sigma was anxious to test their abilities. _One of them could very well be the mercenary I'm looking for_, Sigma thought to himself. He then examined them more carefully. _Well, I know that I shouldn't be judging them by their appearance, but they all look like a band of freaks..._

The Maverick leader stood up, cleared his robotic throat, and addressed the three. "All right, all three of you line up in a straight line in front of my desk. I will ask you to state your name and city of birth, and you will respond in a clear and orderly manner. I don't want any smart-asses in my squad, unless that smart-ass is me." Sigma took a firm stance of authority as the three Mavericks lined up as their new Master had ordered. 

Sigma didn't waste any time. "You. State your name and place of birth." 

The plant reploid took a firm stance. "Spike Rosered, Milford Connecticut." 

Sigma shook his head. "No no no... I'll never remember a name like that. From now on, I'll call you... 'Sean'. Yes, that's perfect for you." 

Spike displayed a face of disbelief. "Master Sigma... surely you don't mean to..." 

"SILENCE! You will speak when only when you are told to!" Sigma shouted sternly. Though Spike's robotic veins flowed with rage, he managed to stay still and calm. Sigma then advanced to the stingray and asked the same question. 

"Jet Stingray, Albuquerque New Mexico." 

Sigma shook his head angrily once again. "Uh uh... won't work out, songfish..." 

Jet raised a voice of protest. "Actually, it's sti-" 

"Shut it! I don't need any more blabbering coming out of you three!" Sigma shook his finger in disgust at the three recruits. "Now... I'll call this 'stungroach' character... 'Chad'. Yes! That fits perfectly..." Sigma blabbered on. Jet was dumbfounded. 

He finally reached the large purple bat. Instead of voicing the same command, he studied him with a look of puzzlement. "Have I seen you before? You look quite familiar." 

Necrobat shook his tiny head. "No, Master Sigma! We've never met... I mean, I was created much further away from here... and I haven't been activated for that long... what would give you that idea, Master?" 

Sigma shook it off. "Nevermind that. State your name and place of birth." 

"Yes Master. Dark Necrobat, Tijuana Mexico." 

Sigma thought he recalled something about that name, but he forgot about it. Instead, he scratched his bald head. "Well, here's another name that won't suffice... your name will be 'Juju' from now on." 

Necrobat almost puked. 

Sigma gave a stern scowl at the three as he returned to the front of the room. "Well, it seems that all is settled. You all will be put through some vigorous training daily, as it will be need in a state of energenc-" 

Before Sigma could finish his lecture, the door to the chambers creaked open. Sigma, Agile, and the three Mavericks turned around in surprise. What they first saw was a slender silhouette holding both parts of the door open with two large fists. His black and white robotic body armor gleamed as he walked into the room. On his helmet were two thin green gems, held up by what looked like wings, with a translucent magenta visor covering his eyes. His combat boots were smooth and slightly indented. He had a sleek black arm cannon mounted on his left arm, and a small tuft of white hair dangling from the back of his head. His face was pressed with a smirk. 

Everyone in the room was quite surprised, especially Sigma. He never was fond of bushy-haired idiots interrupting one of his intellectual lectures. "What the...? Who are you and what do you want???" Sigma asked with a strong sense of authority. 

The mysterious reploid continued to smirk as he spoke. "I'm here to be apart of your great Maverick army, Master Sigma. I've passed through the necessary tests (all which were easy, may I add), and I'm totally qualified. The name's Dynamo." 

Agile looked like a drunken hobo. "Now wait just a minute! I don't remember seeing you in any of our enlistment sessions. Why should we believe you?" 

Dynamo's smug smile dissapeared. "Listen... I don't have any time to talk. I just know that I'm in this army, whether you like it or not." 

Agile was furious. "How dare you! You can't just barge in here and-" 

Before Agile could finish, Sigma raised a cloaked hand to silence him. "Admiral, don't worry. I'm curious to see what this 'recruit' can do... I'm going to allow his enlistment for the time being. Your duty is done for now, Agile. Go to your chambers and rest." 

Livid but loyal, the fallen Admiral made his way to the exit, but not before giving Dynamo an angry stare. 

As Agile shut the door loudly behind him, Dynamo measured up the three reploid recruits to his right. _What weirdos,_ he thought. _Why are idiots like these always accepted into the highest ranks? Well, no matter... I'm not here for partnerwork..._

Sigma took a firm stance once again in front of the now-quartet. "Now, continuing my speech... you all will be put under a vigorous training session (yes, you too Dynamo) over the course of the next few months. I am glad to have recieved you four, because I have a plan that may require experienced mercenairies to carry out. Those mercenairies may consist of the four of you. It will involve an ingenious direct attack on the Maverick Hunters, which is currently Top Secret. So I don't want any of you blabbing to your 'buddies' about it. I'll find out about it somehow, and then you shall be marked as a traitor and face the consequences. Your loyalties are only to be to this army." He cleared his mechanical throat a bit. "Now, I believe everything is order. Our Sergeant at Arms, Serges, will escort you to your chambers for rest. You all need it for the following weeks." 

Sigma clapped his hands twice and Serges walked into the room. "Follow me, please." He gave his master a salute and exited. 

As the four began to depart, Dynamo gave a large hidden smile. _I've gotten you all where I want you fools, _he thought. _My time will come soon enough.... _

* * *


	5. Conference with the Village Idiot

**Chapter 5: Conference with the Village Idiot**

* * *

Zero's legs were beginning to tire after walking down three flights of stairs. He was headed to Wiedl's office, which was located underground in a little-known area of the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Zero's crimson boots tapped loudly against the cold steel stairs as he advanced gradually to the secluded office. 

The tapping of Zero's feet came to a halt when he noticed a large figure standing at the bottom of the stairs. His body was of a light orange hue, with black trimmings. His metallic face was shimmering gold and shown a face of a deranged sort, with large blue eyes and an awkwardly-shaped smile. On his head was an strangley shaped helmet, with the MHHQ insignia plated on it. 

Zero smirked. "Hey, Wiedl. Looks like you've been waiting for me, eh?" 

The large reploid gave an idiotic smile. "Still got that hippie hair, Zero? You know that Hunters shouldn't have hair as long as that. Certainly is a weakness on the battlefield. A Maverick could just sneak up on ya and pull you down to the ground. Then you're helpless. We don't want that, now do we, Zero?" 

Zero shrugged. "Hell, it depends. I might want that to happen if I was a retarded monkey. But fortunatley for me, that ain't what I am. So Wiedl, in the future, please refrain from giving me advice I don't give a crap about." 

Wiedl laughed it off, not realizing the seriousness of Zero's words. "Heh heh heh... you'll never change, Zero..." 

A former general in the Maverick Hunters, Wiedl was dishonorably discharged after being put on trial for an extreme felony (so horrible that it was forbidden of any Hunter to speak of it). However, Dr. Cain was quick to forgive and gave the ex-general a second chance, granting him a job in project development and occasional janitorial work. Over the years, however, Wiedl lost much of his saneness and became sort of a reploid reject. Through this, he gained a rather awkward and moronic personality, which he expressed mostly to Zero. It seemed that he still felt superior to the Crimson Slayer. 

Zero grew a bit impatient. "Let's just get to the point. What is it you want? You've been calling and calling me constantly for the past 4 weeks." 

Wiedl's face became stern and serious. "Yes, of course. As you know, I'm working on a secret project for the good doctor. And finally, after a long peroid of investigation, he's given me permission to reveal it to a trusted Hunter. I've chosen you to be that Hunter, Zero." 

"Whoo hoo. What an honor," Zero said nonchalantly. 

Wiedl motioned towards a large door behind him. "Let's resume this discussion in my office. I'd rather not have anyone hear us." 

Zero followed the ex-general into a small, cramped-in room that looked more like a janitor's closet than an office. Dirty clothes were piled on the stained floor (Reploids wear clothes? Zero thought to himself), which looked matted and worn. A small mattress was placed in the back left corner, along with suspicious looking magazines (Zero had an idea of what they were) and a large mop planted next to it. On the wall were several large cracks and a few 20th century Star Trek posters. In the middle of the room sat a small desk with a dirty, aged computer and a threshold of unorganized papers. The worst part, however, was the smell. It was like a mix of decomposing rats and rotted skunk cabbage, and Zero almost felt like he was going to suffocate. 

Wiedl took a seat behind his desk and smiled. "Sit down, Zero. It may take me a little while to find my necessary files, and I know that patience isn't your thing." 

Though Zero was a bit reluctant, he sat down on the old wooden chair in front of the desk. It almost felt like the chair was going to cave in under his weight, but luckily it managed to maintain itself. But either way, Zero felt mighty uncomfortable sitting in that room. In fact, he always did - Wiedl was a weird fellah, and the damaged parts of his metallic brain might cause him to do something sudden and highly idiotic. But Zero, having almost a sixth sense with his antics, was ready for anything. 

Wiedl's seemingly endless paper rummaging finally came to a halt. "Alright, Zero... the files are all here. But I think we need to have a small discussion first." 

Zero gave a sigh. _Here we go...._

Wiedl cupped his hands together on the smooth desktop. "Now tell me, Zero... what is combat?" 

Zero flashed Wiedl a look of puzzlement. "What's the point of asking me a question like that?" 

"Just answer the question." 

Zero rolled his eyes and thought for a minute. "Err... umm I guess it's like... y'know, fighting in battles and stuff like that I don't know the exact meaning, Wiedl." 

Wiedl gave a hearty and imitating laugh that annyoed Zero tremendously. "Hah! You've been fighting for all these years, and you don't know the exact meaning of combat?!" His laughing ensued. 

Zero had had enough. "Wiedl?" 

He stopped laughing. "Err.... yes?" 

"No offense.... but shut up." 

The cheriness in Wiedl's face was replaced with a look of slight embarassment. "Y...yes. Sorry, Zero." He sighed. His moment of glory had ended in an instant. 

"Now please, Wiedl. Can we focus on the plan? Pop quizzes on the 'meaning of combat' aren't gonna get us anywhere." Zero said. "I'd like to get back to the main floor as soon as possible." 

"Well, of course." Wiedl cleared his voice with a tone of authority. "Dr. Cain recently gave me a rather interesting project. In fact, I find it highly unusual that the doctor would give me a project as important and classified as this one. I almost refused to take part in it, feeling that I was not qualified for such a task. I'm still in shock that Cain would trust me with anything important." 

Zero nodded his head. "Ditto. So what is this project, exactly?" 

Wiedl shuffled through his papers and continued. "The project involves a highly intracate task. The main objective is to locate Sigma's fortress." 

Zero wasn't sure if he heard correctly. "Wait... you're telling me that the project is to find Sigma's fortress?" 

"Prescisley." 

"...Sigma?" 

"Yup." 

"...El Sigmatica?" 

"Err...yeah." 

"...Sigma, evil reploid mastermind?" 

"YES." 

"....sorry, I still don't quite understand the situation..." 

"Yes, Zero. I realize that it's quite hard to believe. But you have to listen to me..." The seriousness in Wiedl's voice seemed to rise. "I have recently detected a powerful energy signal at point 1800F77. It's not definite if it has to do with a fortress, but the energy is certainly peculiar."< p>Zero nodded his head. "And what does this have to do with me?" 

Wiedl shrugged his bulky shoulders. "Nothing in particular. Just thought you would be interested." 

A frown of frustration formed on Zero's face. "You made me come all the way down here just to tell me that? It's kinda intriguing, but you don't have much proof that it has anything to do with Sigma or any Maverick activity." 

Wiedl gave a large grin. "I never said I was finished, Zero. You need to improve in the listening department." He reached for a small photograph which lay face down on the upper righthand corner of his desk. He turned it away from his face so that it would face Zero. "Take a look at this." 

Zero snatched the picture and examined it. It was a slightly fuzzy black-and-white pic, with small black markings seemingly far off in the distance. The bottom half of the photo displayed what looked like miles and miles of sand, most likely a desert. The black blotches in the backround roughly represented a few strangley group building things that Zero had to squint to see clearly. 

"A... fortress...?" 

Wiedl gave a smug chuckle. "Well, Dr. Cain and I believe it may be something like that, but we aren't quite 100% sure yet." He snatched the picture quickly out of Zero's hands, put his gigantic legs up on the desk, and studied the photo with beaming pride. "Hee hee. Cain's spyderoid worked like a charm..." 

Zero looked a little confused. "Spyderoids? Cain makes them?" 

The gargantuan reploid flashed a grin. "Of course he does. In fact, he invented the little buggers not too far back. I believe that the company who makes them now receive all of their design ideas and materials directly from the good doctor." He glanced up to the ceiling. "I love those little things. They can track down and photograph almost anything with great ease, and the victim won't even realize the thing is there. Once I found these readings, Cain gave me permission to send a spyderoid straight to the scene. I knew that a job like this would need a well-trained 'roid, so I sent down Weedo." 

Before Zero could ask who 'Weedo' was, his question was answered in a brief moment. A small red-and-white mechanical spider hopped its way out from under Wiedl's desk and landed on his lap. It curled up a bit in his warm robotic body, and it looked like it was quite comfortable. 

"Meet Weedo, my new pet spyderoid," Wiedl beamed. "Dr. Cain developed him just for me. He keeps me company and cheers me up when I'm feeling low. He also took that fine picture you saw just a minute ago." He stroked the small spider as if it were his pet kitten. 

This was getting too weird for Zero to handle - he was in a small, rancid - smelling 'office' with a deranged, crusty and mentally disturbed ex-Hunter general who was stroking a small mechanical spider who he claimed was his 'pet'. He knew that he had to get out of there, and fast. 

Zero sprung up, Wiedl's attention still locked on his little eight-legged friend. His boots clashed loudly with the harsh stone floor below him, causing the ex-general and his pet to break out of their loving gaze. 

"Sorry Wiedl, but I think I need to get going. I need to... uh.... wash my hair. Yeah, that's it! This dandruff has been killing me lately, and I've needed to wash my hair thouroughly twice a day. I hate having to leave one of your exciting lecture sessions, though... they're always a blast, let me tell ya..." The desperation in Zero's voice seemed to increase as he spoke. 

He gave a small wave as he spun around. "Bye, Wiedl. Bye, Weedo..." 

As he spun, Zero's hair flew right in front of Wiedl's face. Before he could walk off, Wiedl grabbed his large blond ponytail and tugged on it as hard as he could until Zero's crimson body hit the floor. Zero clutched his aching head as if he were suffering 80 simultaneous migranes. 

Wiedl looked down on Zero and chuckled. "See what I mean, Zero? You've gotta train more and be prepared for these things, because I'm certainly not going to announce them. And neither will your enemies." He gave Zero a small salute as his crimson body lay there, fuming with silent rage. "Goodbye, Zero. Train hard now." 

Zero slowly regained control and managed to lift himself up from the ground and stumble his way out the door. He decided to head over to his room and take a long, peaceful nap - he certainly needed it.   
  


* * *

  


Sigma seemed to feel a little relaxed as his computer screen came to life. Keeping the rookie Mavericks under control was one thing, surveying the revival of a reploid that could one day destroy humanity was certainly another. He was sitting in a small armchair not too far away from the room where Vile was being recovered by his technicians, who at the time needed total concentration on their work. Sigma had recently checked in on their efforts, and was delighted to see that they had managed to successfully recover Vile's lost memory chip and convert it into a newer and more durable one. The Lord of the Reploids would soon achieve his ultimate goal. Or so he hoped. 

The screen of Sigma's laptop opened to a teal backround with many shortcuts placed neatly on the screen. While logging on to AOL, he was greeted by one of the clumsiest X-Hunters in the fortress, Commander Violen. His usually fearsome face had a large dent in it's side, given to him by Admiral Agile himself. He had been running down the blisteringly long hallway behind him, and his fatigue certainly showed it. 

"Master Sigma.... I've been ordered to give you the rookie training report." 

Sigma grunted. 

"Err... sir?" 

Sigma nodded his head. He was typing on his laptop dilligently. 

Violen's wide metallic face displayed confusion. "Master Sigma... what are you doing?" 

Sigma spoke with his eyes glued to the flashing screen. "I'm writing the Hunters an e-mail." 

Violen was taken aback. "An... e-mail? But you can't reveal any information to them! They're the enemy - they'll find out about you - about our plan...." 

Sigma chuckled. "Commander, do you honestly think I could possibly be stupid enough to reveal information as classified as that? No... I'm not writing this to tell them anything that would lead them on... I'm just going to toy with them a bit. I'm entitled to a little bit of fun now and then... and dammit, I've been frickin bored lately. It disturbs me that those lousy technicians can't just let me in on exactly what they're doing... jackasses...." Sigma trailed off into a rattling mumble as he continued to type. 

The Commander was a bit confused, but still aware of his duties. "Well... the rookies of our army have been training dillegently, Master. The one that wears the purple visor seems to be advancing the most, though. He carries out almost every ordered task flawlessly, and doesn't even seem to tire. The other three are having trouble catching up to him." 

Still content with his work, Sigma simply waved him off. "Yes, yes... continue with... whatever you're doing..." 

Violen's curiosity took him over again. "Err... Master Sigma? What are you writing to them?" 

"It's a simple threat. Just to make them jitter a bit." He gave a frustrated sigh. "Now leave me to my work. Go on and meet up with your fellow X-Hunters. I'm busy." 

"Yessir..." The pudgy Commander took his leave. After a few minutes of typing, Sigma's work was completed. He beamed with pride as he re-read his well-planned threat to the Maverick Hunters. 

_Hello, Maverick Hunters. Tell me, are you back on the case? If so, goody goody! A little warning... soon enough your pitiful lives will be destroyed, your dreams of peace shattered, your every ideal of a better world with reploids and humans living together in peace will be thrown on the ground and spat upon. I advise you to watch your backs, because we will strike whenever they are turned. Our domination will be your demise! ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!_ (Sigma retched when he saw this little spelling error and corrected it immediatley) _Goodbye for now, fools! _

--Mars, the Bringer of War 

Satisfied with his work, he went to click the "send" button when a sudden, thundering shake sent his laptop sailing toward the ground and hitting the tiling violently. The shaking lasted only for a few seconds, but it was enough to thoroughly disturb the Maverick leader. Sigma was left in a state of shock before a short, stocky reploid technician opened the door to face him. 

"Heh heh... sorry, sir. One of our co-workers dropped a large piece of scrap metal, causing the ground to shake. Don't worry, it won't happen again..." He hurredly closed the door before Sigma could respond. 

Feeling a mix of anger and confusion, Sigma strattled over to where his beloved laptop had taken it's fall. He was relieved to see that everything was intact as he bent down to take a closer look. After returning to his seat, however, he realized that his precious death threat to the Hunters had been mysteriously deleted. This sent the scarred reploid fuming with rage, uttering almost every curse imaginable. Some of the passing Maverick mercenairies gave him awkward and confused looks. Sigma didn't seem to notice or care. 

He managed to regain control of himself after releasing a truckful of cussing. _Un-freakin'-believable. How am I supposed to threaten the Hunters if I just lost my whole file? Oh well... better improvise._

Sigma, wasting no time, typed up a single threatening sentence and immediatley sent it to the Maverick Hunters' e-mail address. _It's not exactly what I want, _Sigma thought,_ but it'll do._  
  


* * *

  


"OWWW!!!! Jezziz lawezziz, that friggin HURTS!" 

"If you keep fidgeting like an idiot, it'll hurt even more." 

Glacier Dragoon was sitting on the padded flooring in his room, newly repaired and previously dismissed from the MHHQ Repair Center. A slim, brown-haired human male was seating beside him, patching up some of the blue reploid's wounds. He was Mick, an expert in reploid repairs and a long-time pal of the Hunters. He was always ready to assist Jenn in the Repair Center, taking care of almost any injured 'ploid with great ease. Jenn had ordered him to keep tabs on Glaicer and take the liberty of bandaging his wounds. 

Glacier's screams began to grow louder. His bruises may have been healed, but they still hurt like hell. 

X, who was seated by Glacier's computer, was the first to chime in. "Glaish! Would you keep it down, please? I'm kinda busy, and I don't need to hear you wailing like a demented banshee." 

The blue-clad dragoon still couldn't help his moaning, though he tried to suppress them as much as possible. He was still in a bit of shock that his own brother could attack him in such a fierce manner. It still bothered him a bit, as Magma hadn't really been heard from since the incident. He tried not to let it get to him too much, but he couldn't help it. 

Mick's bandaging was steadily getting more painful to the ice reploid, and he continued his pitiful moans of agony. 

"Why... _why_ was I programmed to feel pain....?" 

"Quit yer whinin'," Mick snapped, "or I'll bring out the iodine. That'll sure be fun." 

Glacier felt a little frightened by that remark, and Mick could tell. "Fine then," he said, "I'll tell yeh what. I'll give yeh some of this stuff." He pulled out a small azure can, with a picture of a stupid-looking human giving a large smile. "It looks crappy from the outside, but it reduces the pain in reploids a great deal. Here, drink up. It might stop yer moaning." 

Taking it in his claws, Glacier studied the can for a minute before reluctantly taking a sip. It tasted like a mix of rat puke and that horrible flouride stuff your dentist gives you sometimes. He gagged a great deal before unwillingly swallowing the whole thing. The taste still was fresh against his tounge. 

_"Yeech!_ What in the name of jahosophat is in that crap?" Glacier queried as he attempted to banish the awful taste from his mouth. 

Mick smirked. "Better that you not know. The important thing is that it'll help yeh out a great deal.... hey, what're yeh doin???" 

Glacier was taking a good long stare at the back of the can, reading it's ingredients with a look of horror on his face. He looked back at Mick and gave him a disgusted frown. 

The slick repairman shrugged his shoulders. "Well... I hate to say I told yeh so..." he said matter-of-factly, "but I told yeh so. Listen, think about what this stuff will do for yeh rather than what's in it, and I'm sure you'll feel much better. Just relax." 

Glacier mumbled some thing about 'pig-fetuses' before calming down and sitting still. The strange liquid was beginning to take its effect, which iced (_bad_ pun...) the dragoon's nerves. While Mick resumed to tend to Glacier's wounds, X was still busy on the computer. 

"Crappy AOL.... 'invalid port'... I'll give ya an invalid...." 

X continued his angered murmuring as he finally managed to log on to Glacier's clumsy AOL account. The Hunters all shared an e-mail account, which meant that only one Hunter could check mail and whatnot at a time (thanks to Cain's cheapened budget). It was X's designated hour of online freedom, and he intended to take advantage of it. 

While purusing through his email, X noticed a strange letter that had been recently sent. The subject read "Guess what?". Though he knew that it might just be another car insurance offer, he couldn't help but be curious of what the "what" was. 

X opened the message and read it quietly to himself. "'You gonna die'... signed Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. Yeaaah..." He found pleasure in deleting the moronic waste of space and turned to face Glacier. 

"So Glaish, heard your brother gave you that." X stated. 

Glacier felt a bit nervous. "...gave me what?" 

"That injury." 

The dragoon stammered. "Err... yeah, it was my brother. But it was just an accident while training, he didn't do so intentionally." He took another gulp of his pain medicine to calm his nerves so that X wouldn't begin to arouse suspicion. Mick gave a frustrated grunt as Glacier mistakably snapped some of his bandages from his fidgeting. 

Before anyone else could comment, the door of the room was kicked open by a large, crimson boot. Zero stammered in, helmet in his arms, looking exausted and flustered, with his untidy helmet-hair sticking up in all directions. He smiled when he saw Glacier. 

"Glacier, nice to see ya! While I was on my way back up, Jenn told me you were here." He switched his glance to Mick. "Nice to see you too, Mick. Looks like you got your work cut out for ya." 

The scruffy-haired technician smiled back at Zero. "You kiddin'? This injury is nothin' compared to the stuff I had to deal with during the Reploid Wars. I've re-attached severed metallic heads to their charred torsos, fer Pete's sake. And I made 'em fully functional, too. Though I've never had a patient who wailed as badly as this guy, though." Glacier flashed a look of guilt. 

Zero gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah... he has a tendency to do that. I've heard him wail like a little girl sometimes. There was this one time..." 

"ZERO! Please, that's enough!" Glacier snapped. His usually cheery face had twisted into a mixed look of rage and embarrassment. Mick once again ordered the dragoon to stay still, this time giving him a small whack to the head with his open palm. 

Forgetting about the situation, Zero stammered over to the corner of the room where he limply collapsed onto a small bed on the side of the room. He engulfed his face in it's cushy warmth and closed his eyes, obviously intending on taking a nap. X suddenly remembered something. 

"So, Zero... how was your date with Wiedl?" X asked smugly. 

The Crimson Slayer moaned. "Ugh... that guy is a psychopath." 

X smirked. "Brilliant discovery." 

Zero sighed. "He really saddens me, though. He has a small spyderoid as a pet named 'Weedo'. Seems to be in love with the thing. And his office hasn't gotten any tidier." Zero immersed himself further into the cozy mattress. "He did mention something kinda peculiar, though. Apparently, Cain gave him this assignment dealie to track down the hideaway of good 'ol Sigma himself. Go figure." 

This remark caught the attention of both X and Glacier. X, however was the first to speak. "Are you serious? Cain would trust Wiedl with something like that?" He sighed. "I guess the good doctor must have been drinking his lovely moonshine again..." X made a silly gesture to make it look like he was chugging a bottle. He gave a small chuckle to himself. 

Zero gave him a puzzled look. "Well, either way, it's an oddity. He seems to have located a formerly secluded desert that has displayed a powerful energy signature. Not only that, but he sent his little pet spyderoid to take little pictures of the scene. He showed me one of the photos, and it looks like there is something there. Wiedl needs to do more research before we can plan anything, though, which may take a while. What a friggin bummer." 

Mick had been listening in. "Wow. Sounds like we might be plunging into war again. That is, if this fortress thing exists." 

Glacier was quite interested. "I wonder what this might lead to." 

Zero, still glued to his little mattress, gave his shoulders a weak shrug. "Who knows? I guess all we can do is wait and see." He released a small sigh. "It better not take too long, though. From the crap that's been thrown at me this week, I've had a weird urge to stick my beam saber through something good and solid."

* * *


	6. Trainin' On n' On...

**Chapter 6: Trainin' On 'n On....**

* * *

Tire, strain, frustration, bewilderance. Magma Dragoon's normally strong body and mind were feeling an awkward mix of all these feelings. There was a mix of loneliness as well - a yearning, a want, an extreme desire for something completely unattainable. He knew that he was alone in that darkened room, except for a blue figure that stood beside him. 

It was a cold room - chilled with the sorrows of neglect and sadness. Two powerful reploids, two Dragoons, left alone and abandoned in a small development room. As if it were a hazy nightmare, a vision of a mysterious man came to Magma's sight. A man with a desire to create the world's strongest breed of reploids. A man who wished to be recognized for his works. A man who wanted to build a mighty army, invincible from death and injury. 

Magma knew well of his heritage. He knew of those who had died for him, those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their great creator. He knew of the fall of the mighty Dragoons, forgotten in the Reploid Wars and never heard from again. 

But now, there were only two. Two reploids, confused, helpless, and very much alone. 

ut of nowhere, Magma could feel a sharpening pain in his neck, unlike any kind of pain he had ever felt before in his life. It spread throughout his back, consuming the power of his legs and arms. His blue partner had been feeling the same pain, as Magma could hear his wails or terror, and could hear him eventually collapse to the cold laboratory floor. The mighty Dragoon refused to give in, but the pain was so unbearable, he could hardly move.... and he then released a loud, terrified scream. 

In an instant, Magma came back to his senses. He opened his heavy eyes to find himself sprawled on the ground, his torso lifted. The light glow of the morning sun beamed luminously through the translucent windows of the training room. He had fainted during training due to extreme fatigue, and he still felt weak in his limbs. The pain he had felt was now gone - he was breathing heavily from the shock of the vision, still fresh in his boggled mind. He recalled how real it felt, still being able to re-enact the horrible scene in his head. He had only had the vision once before, when he was much younger. Though it seemed clearer to him now what had transpired, he was still confused. 

Still aware of his position, Magma managed to lift his bulky body off the padded training floor. Thankfully, the room was empty, as many were just waking up. The sun felt good and warm against Magma's now matted lightweight armor, rather than the stiff chill that engulfed the room in his dream. He shook off the dirt that had covered the lower part of his body and flashed a smirk. He knew more than the other Hunters would have believed. 

Magma had been keeping tabs on his comrades over the last few days, and obviously had heard of the discovery that ex-general Wiedl had made. This contributed greatly to Magma's motivation, and led him to train much harder than before, which apparently had been too much for the Dragoon warrior. This was too tough for Magma to swallow, so true to his nature, he spit out the belief. His goal had not been clouded by his failure. He would still train on, fighting for his belief. And one day, he would defeat the Lord of the Mavericks himself. 

Magma Dragoon's brain was clouted with this single belief as he began to do a few warm-ups. He shook his limbs around freely to loosen his cramped joints, with a few cracks here and there. He stretched out his arms and legs, feeling slightly weaker since his last training. He would improve upon this, however. He wasn't done yet. 

Sigma wasn't Magma's only goal, however. There were others that he still wished to fight. Those who had defeated Sigma before, the seemingly most powerful reploids on Earth. They were his prime targets, even more so than the leader of the Mavericks. He was training to defeat them. 

One final thought crossed Magma's mind before starting another blistering training session: 

_X, Zero, I will defeat you... even if it means death..._  
  


* * *

  


**Note from the Almighty Spyda:** Hello, my loving slaves... I mean, readers! As you know, Sigma named his new recruits **Sean**, **Chad**, and **Juju**. So during the course of the story, Siggy is gonna refer to them by those names. Just remember... Spike Rosered = Sean, Jet Stingray = Chad, and Dark Necrobat = Juju. We clear, compadres? _Excellent!_ Let's get back to our wonderful little tale, shall we?  
  


* * *

  


Admiral Agile observed as the four Maverick recruits trained harder and harder. The three seemingly mutated recruits, Sean, Chad, and Juju, obviously were well prepared for the tasks they had to face. None of them compared to Dynamo, however, who had passed all of Master Sigma's tests with flying colors. The arrogant reploid was sitting in the corner and scowling at his "comrades". 

Agile had noticed that Dynamo seemed very different from the rest of the group. Not just in power, but moreso in attitude and motivation. While the other Mavericks trained diligently in the firing ranges and training rooms, Dynamo would usually train for about an hour a day and sit things out for the rest. He also wasn't great in the communication department - advancing anywhere near him would provoke the visor-wearing 'ploid to tell you off in a folly of well-planned cursing. The Admiral had deep suspicions of that recruit in particular. He was still confused why his Master had welcomed him in so hastily. It was certainly an oddity. 

The Admiral was seated with his large X-Hunter ally, Commander Violen, in the back end of the Maverick Training Room. Serges was attending a meeting with the technicians involving his General's restoration. Agile really hated hanging out with Violen, as he was somewhat of a doofus. 

"Y'know, I stuck a pen up my nose once," the Commander said in a just-to-let-you-know sort of way. 

Agile sighed. "You don't say." 

"No, I do say. I say lots of stuff." Violen said moronically. 

The Admiral put his fist against his forehead and leaned down. "I know that, Violen. It's just an expression." 

Violen remained silent. He eventually let out a feeble reply. 

"It....it hurt." 

Agile didn't respond; he just buried his face in his hands. "Violen...spare me, please." 

The brutish Commander was confused. "Spare you? Of what?" 

Agile grunted. "Forget it! I can't stand this anymore! Why can't _we_ check in on Vile's development? Why is Serges an exception? Does Sigma prefer him over us, or what?" 

Violen shook his head. "Dunno. I think Serges is in to that technical stuff, though. Before he became an X-Hunter, he was one of Sigma's top technicians during the first Reploid War. He loves developing that scientific hoo-hah, and I think that's why our Master chose him over us. He's experienced in that field. And with the help of M-24 and the other technicians, they make an excellent team." 

Agile rocked his chair to and fro, putting his hands behind his head. "I'm still confused about this whole Vile thing, though. Is it really that important to revive some run-down psycho who was killed by X and Zero twice? I just don't understand it. There are plenty of our other fallen colleagues that are even stronger than him. Why not just rebuild them...?" 

Violen knew why. "Vile's different, Agile. He was developed with a unique irregularity." 

Agile was befuddled. "Say what?" 

Taking a breath, Violen began to speak in an authoritative tone. "You see, it goes like this. Most combat reploids are developed with their power balanced perfectly, no strings attached. This would prevent them from gaining and immense amount of power and going on an unholy rampage. It's different with Vile, though. Not many people know it, but Vile was mistakably developed with an immerse energy inbalace. So much so, however, that I doubt even Master Sigma himself could contain him. As a result, his power was compressed a great deal. Sigma has known this from the beginning." 

I was starting to all make sense to Agile. "So what you're implying is..." 

"Yep. I have reason to believe that Sigma's gonna release all of that power. The catch is, however, is that he may toy with his emotions a bit. He's gonna modify his feelings so that his only objective is to destroy everything that moves, with the exception of us. It would be hard to truly call him a reploid anymore. But at this point, I don't think the Master cares." Violen took a silent breath. 

Agile was surprised at Violen. His usual idiotic comments had come to a halt for a little while during that speech. "Where did you learn all of that stuff?" 

Violen beamed. "I read a lot of books." 

"Whatever." Agile replied. Their conversation was cut short when they heard a loud crash coming from the side of the room, followed by a flow of profanities. The two X-Hunters lifted themselves up to see Dynamo yelling at poor Spike Rosered, who had just mistakably whipped a pillar in back of the visored reploid, causing it to collapse behind him. Rosered was now backing away slowly as Dynamo finished his string of cursing and returned to his seat in the corner of the room. 

"Uh oh. Looks like I'd better talk to him," Agile said with a frustrated tone in his voice. Violen gave him a small salute, signifying some sort of good luck wish. 

The Admiral staggered over to where Dynamo sat and cleared his throat. He knew that his attempts to reason with him would be futile, but he might as well give it a try. 

"Err... Dynamo? Shouldn't you be training?" 

Dynamo kept his head down. "Shove it." 

Agile scowled. "Excuse me? I don't find it wise for you to speak to your superiors in that manner." 

He lifted his head and gave an angry look. "Listen up, clown boy. I don't need some stupid jester telling me what to do. I'll train when I feel it's necessary for me to do so. Now leave me alone, you rejected circus boy." 

Though badly shaken, Agile figured that further reasoning with Dynamo was totally pointless. However, he felt that he needed to ask one more question. 

"Dynamo... why did you join us, anyway?" 

The sleek reploid looked at Agile with a look of surprise. His face then shifted into its normal look. "I have my reasons, but it's clearly none of your business. Now, for the last time, leave me alone." 

All Agile could do was sigh and walk away. It was gonna be a _looong_ day...

* * *


	7. Nearing the Hour

**Chapter 7: Nearing the Hour**

"Hey, Serges! This one's for yer momma!" 

Before he could respond, a large test-tube came sailing across the small laboratory room and nailed Sergeant Serges on the side of his metallic head. The troublemaking culprits in the far corner could be heard laughing histerically. They high-fived eachother in a comical manner and continued their jeering.

Serges nursed his now-swollen cranium. "Damned imbicles! What in the name of jahosophat do you think you're doing? We can't be acting like idiots while a masterpiece is being reborn!" He lifted his hunchbacked body up from the ground and displayed a menacing glare. "Now get yer arses back in gear, or I'll report all of you to Master Sigma! Then you will face the consequences! Now MUSH!"

As Serges pounded his fist against the table beside him, the reckless technicians immediatley returned to their work on Vile's enhanced battle armor. Sigma himself had chosen the new colors - orange, with sleek gold trimmings - which was certainly a departure from the drab purple and blue hues of the past. The Maverick leader was ready to welcome a new generation of destruction and annihilation, and he held the colors as a sign of total dominance over all. It seemed perfectly fit for the occasion.

It had certainly been a rough week. Almost all of the technicians in Sigma's fortress had been working nonstop on the reconstruction of the fallen Maverick general. None managed to slip in even a second of free time - their Sergeant was very strict with them. They often enjoyed comparing him to a slavedriver.

In the sea of enthusiasm, however, there thrived a gathering of fear throughout the fortress. Word had spread that their precious well-hidden fortress had been located somehow, as reported by the Chief Maverick Guard. Even some of the strongest soldiers of Sigma's army had been in deep panic, with the belief that the Maverick Hunters would attack at any time, before the construction of Vile was complete. It had certainly become a frantic environment, and Serges was having a great deal of trouble trying to keep everybody in order.

Not only that, however, but Sigma had given him the job of babysitting a bunch of slackjawed yokels who apparently were "high-class" technicians. It seemed that all they did was goof off - which could annoy the distressed Sergeant to the breaking point.

While pondering the happy results of resignation, Serges was abruptly knocked back to his senses when he heard a loud, frantic cry escape from one of the technicians.

"MY HAND!! FIRE! FIIRREE!!!!!" the distressed reploid yelled as he began shaking his hand, now lit aflame. While doing an idiotic dance of fright around the room, his co-workers began shouting suggestions.

"Hit it against a piece of metal!" one technician called.

"No! Snuff it out with your mouth!" another yelled.

"Press it against your chest and pound it on the floor!" a third suggested.

"Just dip it in a bucket of gasoline!" a final one cried.

Without much hesitation, the technician rushed to the corner where a bucket lay hidden. Stamped on a large sign above exclaimed "USE IN CASE OF FIRE". Not totally understanding the warning, the reploid drank the entire bucket of the mysterious liquid. It took him a few seconds to realize that he had just made a huge mistake.

"You idiot!" shouted Serges from across the room. "You're supposed to pour it on the fire, not drink it!"

The frantic technician, now desperate, decided that he had to make a decision fast. Without thinking, he ran over to the development table and slammed his burning fist constantly on the sleek metal. It took about a minute for him to totally smother the flame beneath his hand, which was now a deep, charred black. The sorry excuse for a mechanic fell to his knees and nursed his injured hand, with a few silent tears escaping his frightened eyes.

Serges released another yell; this time, however, the tone in his voice was given a livid touch. "Moron! Get up and look at the damage you've done!"

Heeding his superior's request, the scarred mechanic lifted his sorry self to his shaking feet. A bit shaken, he nervously glanced at the development table above him. There lay Vile's metallic chestplate, now charred and burnt from the intensity of the flames he had spread upon it. To top things off, a large dent in its center had caused the once gleaming piece of metal to crack and whither at the seams. The mechanic, shocked by his actions, proceeded to gawk at the damage he had done to a priceless piece of work.

The respectlful Sergeant couldn't take it anymore. His face white-hot with rage, he began to loudly scold the roustabout laborers.

"YOU FRIGGIN IDITOS!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?? DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO FOLLOW SAFETY PROCEDURES? ARE YOU SO BRAINDEAD THAT YOU CAN'T ABIDE BY A FEW SIMPLE RULES??? HOW CAN SIGMA PUT UP WITH YOU IDIOTS?!" He took a moment to catch his breath before resuming his extravagant rant. "THIS IS OVER!! IF YOU WANT TO ACT LIKE A GANG OF CIRCUS FREAKS, BE MY DAMN GUEST!" Serges swiftly turned towards the door. With seemingly little effort, he firmly grasped the doorknob and - with one mighty thrust - ripped the entire door out of its respective spot and tossed it across the small room, causing it to crash against the cold, metallic wall.

"I'M GOING TO SEE MASTER SIGMA! ALL OF YOU CAN JUST STAY HERE AND WALLOW IN YOUR OWN IDIOCY, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT!" And with that, the bearded soldier stormed out the doorway and vanished from sight.

Shocked and confused from what had just happened, the mechanics stood in place like marble statues, remaining totally quiet. The silence was soon interrupted, however, by a stray reploid's low-toned voice.

"Magnus... we _told_ you not to use the blowtorch to clean your nails."  
  


* * *

  


The tranquil silence that surrounded Sigma's quarters was very pleasing to the Maverick King. Rarely did he feel a calm atmosphere such as this - Sigma had always been busy filling out construction reports and supervising his workers lately, and he hardly received even a second of free time. Moments like these were always treasured.

Alone at his small workdesk, Sigma pondered what the future of the human race might be like. He could picture the torment, the bloodshed, the screams of mercy... it was all like a beautiful dream to him. This time, however, he intended to make that dream become true at last.

Until then, however, all he could do was express his feelings in the best way he could: written word. Not many of his comrades knew of it, but Sigma loved to write poetry in the little free time he had. He felt that the poem he was currently composing was one of the best he had written yet. Sitting snugly in his dark scarlet armchair, he proudly observed the words he had printed on his notepad:

Humans! 

Their time is through for good! 

How joyous it shall be to see them die! 

When nightfall arrives, I shall find a human 

And tear off all his limbs! 

Then, with a hearty laugh, I shall snap the fool's spine 

To halt his irritating screeches! 

That is my wrath, human! No more soup for _you!_

In his eyes, it was a true masterpiece. His admiration of his work was short lived, however, when a loud pounding of metallic boots came thundering from the hallway beyond his office door. Soon enough, a disgruntled Sergeant Serges kicked the large, steel doors open and paraded into the once-peaceful room, reciting a string of random curse words while prancing around the area repeatedly. After a few seconds he proceeded to slam his head against the cold, marble floor while sobbing in an extremely awkward manner. Sigma seemed a bit lost with his actions.

"Serges... you seem a bit.... perturbed," stated Sigma, with a look of slight concern on his face.

The bearded X-Hunter looked up to his humble Master, still halfway through his sobbing. "You're damn right I'm perturbed!" he shouted as he pounded his fists against the neatly carpeted flooring. He soon regained his composure and spoke to Sigma in a civilized tone. "Those bumbling circus clowns! Idiots! Every last one of 'em! They can't tell their arses from a hole in the wall they accidentaly made yesterday! They have no order whatsoever! They're like a pack of slackjawed yokels! I can't _believe_ that they're smart enough to be advanced mechanics!" He lifted himself from the ground and pounded a fist on Sigma's desk. "Something has to be done, Sigma! I can't be babysitting these people anymore! You need to take immediate action!"

Resting his head against his free arm, Sigma nonchalantly nodded his head. "Of course, Sergeant. I understand that supervising a group such as that can be quite troubling. I'll take care of things right away..."

The Reploid Champion reached for the blood red phone resting at the far end of his desktop. His fingers dialed the numbers slowly as Serges's agitated self anxiously waited, prattling his fingers against the smooth tabletop. It wasn't long before Sigma began to speak with a high-voiced Maverick on the other line.

"Hello, Reva... yes, everything's going well. Yes... I heard about that. Very tragic. Hope they reattach it soon, that must be a mess to carry around... well, there has been a bit of trouble. It's not much of a deal, however, so don't worry about it... I will. You take care now..."

Sigma hung the phone up before returning to his poem writing, seemingly forgetting about the overly pissed-off Serges standing before him.

The Sergeant was befuddled. "Well?" he queried.

Sigma glanced up. "'Well' what?"

Serges, now ready to kill, pounded his fist against the desktop once again. "About the mechanics! Are you gonna do anything about it?"

Sigma nodded his head, suddenly understanding the matter. "Ah yes... I called Reva, nice gal... she says she'll give them a little slap on the wrist, I suppose. Things'll be taken care of."

This was far more than Serges could handle. "Dammit, you fool! I can't believe that you're acting like a friggin smartass at a time as crucial as this!" He turned away from his Master and advanced to the exit. "Master Sigma, if you can't control the behavior of a few simple mechanics, then I can't see how you can possibly carry out General Vile's rebirth! You're just gonna sit here and let the Maverick Hunters discover our location! Then we'll be totally screwed over! I'm warning you! If you don't take action, then our entire operation will be shot to hell!" He stormed out of the room, slamming the door forcefully behind him.

Left alone at his desk, Sigma took a moment to let what just occured sink in. For the first time, he realized that his bearded comrade might have something of a good point; Sigma had been a bit leniant and laid back lately, and the reconstruction of Vile had been moving rather slowly. If he didn't get things moving, the Hunters might be swift to discover the fortress's location and may attack - which obviously would ruin all of his plans. Something had to be done, and fast.

Scrambling for his notepad, Sigma ripped off the piece of paper displaying his poem and began writing a memo:

To all staff:

It is to my understanding that not all procedures and tasks have been followed with complete effort and dilligence. I have recieved numerous complaints involving this issue, and I have chosen to impose the following order:

All mechanics, mercenaries, etc. must work at double the time they have previously. Time is slowly running thin, and we need all of the effort possible to wage our attack against the Maverick Hunters. If we slow down and act like fools, then we will never be able to achieve our goal.

I know that this will not be an easy task to complete, but I have total confidence in the hard work and determination of our soldiers. 

Thank you --   
Master Sigma

Happy with his work, Sigma sat back in his chair. Once again, he began to fill his mind with the sweet dreams of a hopeful future. 


	8. OmegaVile the Terrible

**Chapter 8: OmegaVile the Terrible**   
  
_Three hundred seven... three hundred eight.... three hundred nine.... three hundred ten..._

X kept his eyes plastered to the large hardcover books, which remained dormant on the shelf. He directed his index finger across the seemingly endless row of literature and maintained a steady count in his mind; for him, this was the easiest way to get things done. Mental seemed to work out better than vocal.

He continued his count as he whispered softly to himself in his occupied brain. _Three hundred twenty one, three hundred twenty two, three hundred twenty three, three hundred twenty four, three hundred twent-"_

Without warning, the large door of the Hunter library was kicked open. The loud clash of steel against the cold metal wall thoroughly interrupted X's mind count of the books, which had now all gone lopsided on their designated surface. He swerved around to see the hulking body of ex-general Wiedl, walking with a spring in his step. 

"X! How nice to see you here!" the bulky soldier boomed with a jubilant tone in his voice. "Looks like you're doin' your normal duties. That's always good. Dr. Cain has always been great at getting people to work hard for the common cause of the Hunters. Labor builds character, X, you always remember that. If anyone tells you otherwise, you give them a good smack in their hollow heads..."

X lifted his hand to prevent Wiedl from resuming his consistent droning. "I get the point, Wiedl. Could you just tell me whatever it is you need? I need to restart my library inventory, because thanks to you, I totally lost count of the books."

The ex-general formed a look of guilt and directed his eyes to the padded floor. "Sorry, X. I get a little worked up sometimes when I'm really anxious for something to happen." He looked back up to X's face and clapped his hands, with a large grin on his face once again. "It's the anticipation! It gets me worked up! Just the thought... a war! Another war! So many possibilities... maybe the doctor will even let me fight... amazing... I could just imagine..."

"All's forgiven, Wiedl. _Please_ just tell me what you need, before I puke all over these fine pieces of literature." said X, with a mix of acceptance and frustration in his voice.

Wiedl nodded. "Yessir. I'm starting my research on proper battle techniques, and I figured that I could find some good resources here." He cracked his knuckles in eager preparation. "Gotta be ready for anything! Never know when you'll get called into action. And with everything going on around here, I figured this would be a great opprotunity to catch up on my reading."

Though he wasn't quite interested in supporting Wiedl's drunken fantasy, X decided to play along for little while. He rummaged through the lopsided books, removed a thin one from the far back of the shelf, and handed it to the ex-general. "There ya go," he offered.

Wiedl studied the book with a puzzled glance. "Err.... X, are you sure this is the right book?" he quered. "It's entitled _'The Art and Beauty of Breastplates'_...."

Without warning, the azure-plated soldier snatched the book from Wiedl's pliant arms and tossed it across the room. He then fired a large plasma shot it its direction, incinerating it instantly. The charred pieces of parchment loitered the cold stone floor.

X patted Wiedl's shoulder, with a nervous smile on his face. "Let's forget this little incident ever happened. M'kay?" he asked shakily. Again he directed his attention to the pieces of literature behind him, with a befuddled Wiedl scratching his head in an attempt to thoroughly understand what had just happened. After some minor scrambling, X recovered another book, one much thicker than the former. He handed it to Wiedl and patted his shoulder once again. "Here's a good one. It has some nice information on various battle techs, and well as some weaponry data. Some parts may get a little linear, but it's worth every cent. Not that you're paying for it, of course."

Wiedl glanced at the dusty hardcover book and skimmed through some of its pages. He gave X a nod of gratitude. "Thanks a great deal, X. This book looks like a damn good resource." He closed the book's sturdy pages and glanced around the room. "I just have one more question. Have you seen Zero around lately? I haven't talked to him in days, and there's something important I need to show him."

X flashed a nervous glance as he responded. "Uh, Zero? No, I haven't seen him around either. Last time I saw him, he was on the 8th floor. But that was a while ago. No idea where he could be now."

Wiedl shrugged. "Well, I trust you X. I'll keep my eyes peeled." He headed towards the door, waving his hand as a sign of goodbye. "Thanks for your help, X. Best be going to see the doctor now. He gets pissy whenever anyone's late."

"True. Well, good luck with your research thingy. Glad I could be of help," X hastily said. With that, the large steel door of the library was loudly slammed shut, teetering the library books even moreso than before. Outside, X could hear Wiedl's clammering feet banging against the stairs. They faded into total silence in a matter of seconds.

X rested his head against the library door and listened for any more noise, but only heard total silence. He stepped back and took in a deep breath. A few moments later, X heard a small creaking noise coming from the rear of the area. A silent, frightened whisper could be heard: "He gone, X?"

The Hunter turned to the voice and responded. "Yeah, he's long gone. You can come on out now, Zero. He won't be bothering you for the time being."

The crimson reploid leaped out of a nearby crate in the back of the room, trying to maintain his composure after his clumsy landing. He released a large sigh of relief. "Whew! Glad I'm outta there. Smelled a lot like cat piss." He brushed himself off and walked over to X. He gave him a pat on the back. "Thanks for the help, X. I knew this would be a perfect place to hide from Wiedl."

X shrugged. "Whatever. Just be wary of Cain's lab and the 8th floor. He might be lurking around there," he gloomily stated.

Zero smirked and rushed to the door. "Well, looks like I'm headed for the nearest bathroom. I _know_ he won't be hanging around there. Good luck with the bookkeeping work Cain gave ya!"

X waved him off. "See ya."

And with that, The Crimson Slayer sped out the door and prattled his way up the steps, not bothering to close the door behind him. A monotone silence followed.

X shook his helmeted head in a frustrated manner as he turned back to the thick volumes of writing, now almost laying totally on their backs with only the tip leaning against the book beside them. X sighed as he began to rearrange them, being cautious to keep their order intact. After some scrambling, he restarted his mental inventory once again.

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight..._

...hey, isn't that a Playboy?  
  


* * *

"Vital systems stable, power signature at normal status, CPU fully functional. In simpler terms, he's A-OK."

M-24 lowered his notepad and took a seat next to Agile, whom had been called in as a temp. Serges had taken a much needed break, and would be out of comission for the next few days. This was much to Agile's dislike - though excited about the supervision of Vile's rebirth at first, he soon realized that it required a great deal of labor, which had become rather tedious in the past few days.

The head mechanic, M-24, kept a close eye on all that occured during the construction. The technicians had been on their toes since Sigma's memo, which had aided the rebuilding a great deal. Vile's comatose body was sprawled over the laboratory table, still undergoing various tests. But it wasn't long before his glorious rebirth, which brought hope and motivation to all fighting for the Maverick cause.

Agile glanced at the monitor above him, which clearly displayed the inner skeleton of his lifeless superior. All of that technical whoo-hah was just jargon to the Admiral - he was mostly involved with battling strategies and attacks, and had no care for it. He was the only Maverick other than M-24, Serges, and Sigma who knew what a "wire" was, so he was an obvious choice for the job. And he didn't like this a whole lot.

M-24 laid back against his seat and yawned. "Damn, this is tiring. I can't be watching them 'round the clock. It's like they're little infants or something," he stated.

Agile did the same as his comrade and leaned back against his chair, lifting his hooked feet upwards. "We shouldn't worry about it too much, 24. Vile should be revived any day now. Then we can just sit back and let him do all the dirty work for us." He giggled with fiendish delight. "Maybe we could even have some fun with him, like have him attack senior citizens or get him to go annihilate a local K-Mart or something."

M-24 shook his head. "I don't think we should fool around with him. We're only allowed to follow Master Sigma's orders. If he caught us wasting Vile's energy, he'll have our asses on a silver platter for sure."

The purple-clad swordsman blew a rasberry and shrugged it off. "Aww, screw him. He won't be supervising us. We can get away with whatever we want! And there's nothing that stupid chrome-dome can do abou - GACK!"

A metallic hand wrapped its fingers around Agile's feeble neck. Though he struggled, they were purely in vain; the mysterious figure lifted his body easily and hurled him across the room into a stack of crates nearby. It triggered a loud crashing noise, and Agile lay totally unconscious and motionless on the charred wood. Everyone in the room shockingly glanced to Agile's body, and then to the mysterious figure. It proved to me none other than Master Sigma himself.

The Maverick Lord brushed his hands together. "Looks like everything is in order. What a shame it had to come to this, however. But I just can't tolerate such extreme ignorance." He took a seat next to M-24, still frozen in shock. Sigma looked to him and smiled.

"Excellent work, M-24. It brightens my day to see those half-wits attentive and focused on their work," he stated. "Tell me. How much longer do you think the process will take before Vile can be reactivated?"

M-24, apparently still recovering from the shock, fumbled with his notes and turned to a sheet of paper with a great deal of technical language printed on it. "Yes, Master Sigma. The process should probably take at least 2 days. We still have to run some final tests, but after that, everything should be set. That is, if we keep our work at this rate."

Sigma nodded his head and smiled once again. "Fantastic. Everything is playing out perfectly."

There was a short pause until Sigma spoke up again. "You know, I've been thinking," he began, "we need to do something about his name. Just having the name 'Vile' isn't satisfactory. We need to add something to it. Give it some mmph. Some pizzaz. Something cutting edge. Y'know what I mean, 24?"

M-24 nodded in agreement. "I know what you're getting at, Master Sigma. I have an idea for it, actually. Why not use sometihing from the Greek alphabet? You can never go wrong with Greek letters. Their names always sound very 'cutting-edge'. I've got one: how about 'GammatronVile?'"

His leader shook his head. "No, that won't work out. It's way too Power Rangers. Got any others?"

The mechanic looked through his notes again. "Alright, here are some... 'BetaVile', 'AlphatechVile', 'DeltaVile', 'MeGustaComerQuesoVile'...."

"That's all crap!" Sigma shouted. "None of that bullplop is fit for the title." He crossed his arms and scowled. "Fine then. Tell me, what is the last letter of the Greek alphabet?"

M-24 thought for a minute before responding. "I believe it's 'Omega'..."

Sigma beamed. "Yes! That's perfectly fitting! 'OmegaVile'! Omega can signify the end! The end of the Hunters, the end of the human race... yes, I'm such a genius...."

M-24 shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I guess that's a good title. I'll write it down." He hastily wrote the name down before crossing out all of his previous attempts at names. "Well, that's that. His title is officialy decided."

Sigma lifted his bulky battle body from Agile's former seat and proceeded to the doorway. "Make sure they don't slack off, 24. I'm counting on you to keep them in order."

M-24 nodded and saluted. "Yessir."

"Oh... one more thing," Sigma stated. "Don't worry about Agile. I figure he'll wake up in a few minutes. Or maybe hours."

The reploid Master walked out of the room, leaving M-24 to his free thoughts. After some silence, he could hear the muffled mumbling of Admiral Agile, gradually waking up from his unconsciousness.

"....goddamn nail crates..."

* * *


	9. The Thief and the Three Stooges

**Chapter 9: The Thief and the Three Stooges**

* * *

The desert was filled with utter silence. The sand, scalding from the rays of the blistering sunlight, blanketed the seemingly endless field with an errie sort of aura. The sand's clouded fog swept through the misty afternoon breeze, gently scraping the surface of the desolate wasteland. When viewed by at certain angle, you could even consider the serene, peaceful valley to be quite beautiful in an its own awkward way. The flat, perfectly smoothed-out land, totally untouched by man nor machine.

At least, until now.

Smack dab in the center of the barren desert was Glacier Dragoon, keeping a stiffened position, without making any kind of sudden movement. His greyed eyes remained narrow as they darted left and right, observing his current situation. Encircling him was a group of several stray Mavericks, as it seemed. Their golden-plated battle armor glistened in the perpetual sunlight, with their dark blue helmets mounted securely on their heads. Their eyes were all the same - cold, lifeless, and without color. All of them were completely identical to eachother, with the Maverick insignia plated on their glimmering arms. They looked somewhat dangerous, with plasma cannons mounted on each arm. Offing all of them at once would certainly not be an easy task.

Still in his rigid stance, Glacier began to experience a deep feeling of fear. The individuals surrounding him obviously didn't come for a spot of tea and crumpets. They were Mavericks, and powerful ones at that. Their stare was terribly unnerving for the stranded dragoon, which made him feel all the more frightened. The thought of retreat had crossed his mind... but alas, the chances of simply running away unscathed were slim to nil. He had to maintain his dignity, after all.

His mind was in a sea of doubt. Could he really take on a full group of battle-ready Mavericks on his own?

_Eight to one.... what fantrabulous odds...._ Glacier thought to himself. _But I can do this... I just gotta remember what Magma taught me... and combine that with a helluva lot of luck..._

Without warning, Glacier's mental pondering was interrupted by what sounded like a plasma shot. The azure dragoon leaned his body to the side just in time - the hiss of white-hot plasma sped past him, barely inches away. Glacier, without hesitation, leapt gracefully into the air and drove his giant monstrosity of a foot into his attacker's vulnerable face. The gold-plated Maverick, obviously not expecting the sudden assault, was knocked back a good few feet before crashing to the barren surface. This was the catalyst in the chemist's flask; Glacier's action instigated three of the other golden soldiers, whom fired several plasma shots directly at him. Though a bit frazzled, the dragoon managed to encase himself within a Frost Shield, which repelled the stray blasts and sent them flying in all directions. With one hand, the dragoon sent an ice beam soaring in the direction of one of the Mavericks, whom was hit dead-on in the chestplate, causing the ice to consume his body. He fell face-first to the desert ground, shattering into a billion pieces.

_Ohkay.... two down, six to go. Just stay focused, Glacier...._ Dragoon mentally noted, his heart pounding at a rapid pace.

It was only a matter of time before the loud pounding of metallic boots came thundering in Glacier's direction. One of the gold-plated warriors dove at him, his fist in a tight bind as it was swung directly at the lone azure reploid. The assault was unsuccessful, however, as Glacier managed to duck to his knees and drive his knee into the Maverick's stomach, causing him to double over and fall to the ground. Another warrior attempted an assault on Glacier from the rear, but was quickly stopped short as the blue-clad reploid gave him a dose of Shotgun Ice directly in the arm. He then proceeded to land a punch right in the Maverick's face and knock him unconscious, shattering his arm. The dragoon's next attack was quite brutal; he instincively charged madly at a dormant soldier, and with his hand firmly placed in a karate chop-esque style, sliced him symmetrically in half. His torso and legs both fell to the desert surface with a defeaning clang, and fresh reploid blood soiled the once beautiful land. Glacier's chopping hand was now soaked in it; he nonchalantly rubbed the spare blood onto his azure armor and directed his attention at the remaining Mavericks. There were only two of them left; they stood shocked from the actions of their adversary, whom had single-handedly offed six of their comrades without even breaking a sweat. Glacier took full pleasure in watching them quiver with fear. It was something he rarely felt.

Without any further hesitation, Glacier Dragoon charged full force at his enemies, with a mixture of fury and pleasure in his wild eyes. He delivered yet another leaping kick to the first Maverick, hitting him dead on in the chest and knocking him down, motionless. His cockiness quickly became carelessness, however, as Glacier had not been paying attention to his footing and tripped on his right leg. He fell painfully to the desert ground, feeling the full force of the impact. He was totally unexpected for such a mistake, and found himself unable to lift back up. This minor blunder would prove to be fatal; the last standing golden warrior sped over to the fallen dragoon, obviously seeing his opprotunity. Glacier glanced up to see the arm cannon of the Maverick... he shut his eyes tightly, awaiting his death...

....silence.

Glacier, unsure of what exactly had just transpired, reopened his frightened eyes to see everything around him gone. The desert, the sky, the deceased golden Mavericks; everything had dissapeared, and all that was left was a room of total darkness. The dragoon lifted himself gradually off the invisible "ground" and glanced around the room, totally befuddled. It was then that a friendly, familiar voice met his trembling ear:

_Well now, Glacier. Looks like you've been defeated. But, for now, I believe that it's time to wake up from the Matrix now, don't you agree?_

At that moment, Glacier felt a heavy feeling of drowziness consume his body. The pain he had experienced as a result of the previous battle began to fade away as the dragoon fell to the ground; his vision began to give way, and he soon plunged into total darkness.

* * *

"Glacier? Are you feeling alright?"

It was that same voice from before, only it seemed closer and much more tangible.

"....Glacier? It's me, Dr. Cain. It's time for you to get up now."

The weary eyes of Glacier Dragoon barely managed to expose themselves to the brightness of the outside world. All they could see was the rest of their body hooked up to a large set of wires, laying on a large metal platform. All Glacier felt at the time was extreme numbness all over his body; he was incredibly weak from the effects of the machine. The man above him, whom was obviously Dr. Cain, looked down on his test subject and smiled. "Well, Glacier... what did you think about my combat simulation program? It still needs some refinements, of course... but I believe I've made good with this project." The elderly scientist began to unhook some of the wires that were attatached to the dragoon, which had most likely contributed to the simulation effects. "Just stay still for a few minutes, Glacier. I need to unhook the support wires from your body. I promise you that you'll have a good deal of your energy revitalized once I'm finished."

Glacier lay dormant for a little while until the doctor had managed to unattach all of the cords. He spoke once again in his usual gentle, friendly tone of voice. "You probably will be able to get up now, Glacier. You're totally unattached to the machine in any way."  
  
Indeed, he was correct - Glacier's woozy, weak feeling had totally dissapeared, and he could feel his enegry re-surge through his body. Ever-so-slowly, he managed to lift himself up from the simulation table and stand up on his shaky legs. He directed his glance from his own body to Cain and back again. The doctor brushed his beard softly with his hand as he grinned. "That was an impressive display, Glacier. I never knew you were such a well-polished fighter. You finished off many of those high-class Mavericks without a great deal of effort. Very impressive, indeed."

The Dragoon flashed an appreciative smile; being the Commander of the low-class Hunter unit known as the 12th, he wasn't quite accustomed to compliments. His unit only focused on low-profile assignments and battles against the weaker of the Maverick forces. They had gained somewhat of a lousy reputation over the years, as much of the unit consisted of bubbleheaded soldiers who couldn't fire a rifle if their lives depended on it. And Glacier wasn't much of a combatant himself; sure, he could hold off some well-polished Mavericks at times, but he wasn't quite a competent when it came to leadership. Being Commander was something he hadn't planned on - it just turned out that he was the most experienced of the 12th unit, and that wasn't much of an honor. But back in that simulation, he had battled eight seasoned Mavericks and almost managed to destroy all of them and come out alive. _Almost_. Not bad for a start. 

Glacier continued his blank glance at the floor for a little while as Dr. Cain resumed tidying up the simulation area. "I sincerely apologize for any inconviniences you may have experienced, Dragoon. The simulation causes an unfortunate side effect involving a massive energy loss. I did create a backup program, but unfortunately, it only compensated for half of the needed energy. I'm afraid you won't be able to engage in much combat for the next few hours..." His voice trailed off into a series of mumblings. "However," he said with his original gentle tone revitalized, "I'm happy to say that the simulation testing has come to a glorious start. I'm sorry you had to be the guinea pig."

Glacier shrugged. He was obviously very tired, as it shown continuously in his voice and body language. "No problem, doc. But I wish you had chosen a better way of 'convincing' me than shooting a tranquilizer dart into my neck."

"Well, you see, there's quite a funny story to that," Cain began. "You see, X and I were sitting together in the cafeteria after a long session of tray cleansing, and needless to say, I was a tad bit tipsy. So X, a bit perturbed due to the work I had forced him into, made me a bet that if I could hit the dart board on the far wall with a tranquilizer dart, he'd give me five bucks. I willfully accepted (I needed liquor money, after all) and X joyfully lended me a dart gun (don't ask me why he had been carrying it around). Unfortunatley, my sense of direction was a bit fuzzy at the time and I ended up shooting the projectile into your rather pliant neck while you were peacefully eating your lunch." Cain gave a rather insensitive snicker; for a seemingly brilliant scientist, the doctor could be rather immature at times. "Many people in the area began to panic, but when the medics arrived I informed them that I would take care of you personally. As you could imagine, I was quite embarrased by the entire ordeal, but at least I gained a test subject! Sorry I didn't inform you of this when you regained consciousness before the simulation began. I figured you could certainly use a little help in your battle skills."

"Gee... thanks," Glacier stated sarcastically. "So it was X whom orchestrated this fun little experience?"

"Well....not quite," Cain responded. "It was mostly my fault, really. X was quite angry with me at the time, and took advantage of my drunkenness. He certainly has been acting quite strangely since I put him to work."

"Yer damn right, I have!" chimed in the voice of X, whom had been in the backroom the entire time and was just walking in on the conversation. Glacier noticed that he looked drastically different than when he had seen him a couple of weeks back at the infirmary; his usually glimmering azure Titanium-X armor was dirty, burnt, and covered in excessive sweat. His cracked helmet lay very crooked on his skull, revealing a tuft of greasy, jet-black hair sticking out the front. His most noticable and awkward feature, however, was his face - his usual look of peace and optimism was replaced with a mixed expression of insanity and rage. He also looked terribly worn out, with his bloodshot eyes staring blankly at the room. He didn't look like one to be screwed with at the moment.

Disgruntled, X stared directly in Glacier's direction, making the blue reploid feel terribly uncomfortable. There was something quite disturbing about that look.

Finally, X spoke in a raspy tone. "Glacier, I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble... but I can't take this anymore. I haven't had any decent sleep all week. All I've been eating lately has been week-old horse radish and cans. TIN-FRICKIN'-CANS." He began advancing towards Dragoon, making him feel much more uncomfortable. "And then there's the _work_. Eight hours straight. Honestly! Then Cain makes me take the NIGHTSHIFT every other frickin' day! I'm forced to watch a bunch of moronic humans jackoff all night! What _FUN!_ Then I have CAFETERIA duty, and GARBAGE cleanup, and TOILET WASHING, and BEDPAN CLEANSING..... is there NO END? For Christ's momma, I'm just **ONE MEASLY REPLOID**! I can ONLY DO SO MUCH!!!"

At this point, X had trodded over to where the already freaked-out Glacier was seated and began shaking him violently. "GLACIER.... LISTEN TO ME! _NEVER_ GET YOURSELF INTO THIS KIND OF WORK! YOU'RE STILL YOUNG! DON'T LET YOUR FEEBLE SELF BE DESTROYED FOREVER BY THE HELL THAT IS FORCED LABOR! TOO MUCH OF IT WILL _BREAK_ YA FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, MAN!!!" 

"X, please! That's enough!" Cain finally intervened, pulling X away from Glacier, whom was now practically in tears due to X's unexplainable attack. X's freakish stare was still implanted on him, however. The Dragoon pondered the thought of bolting out the door before X went on a total rampage, but he hadn't the energy to do so. All he could do was sit there and look shocked. 

Cain was having a bit of a struggle with X, who was now attempting to break free from his restraint. Luckily, the doctor managed to hold him back. "X, calm down now. You've been having a rough week," he stated. He shifted his glance to Glacier. "I think it would be wise of you to get out of here, Glacier. You need to get some rest. You might want to take the elevator, since the stairs may be too tiring for you with all of the energy you lost..." 

Glacier anxiously nodded his head; he had already begun to inch his way towards the nearby exit. As he dashed through the door and down the dark corridor, he could hear the psychotic yells of X echoing in his direction. "HAHAHA, GLACIER! GOOD LUCK USING THE ELEVATOR!" he called to him. "YOU'LL PROBABLY PLUNGE TO THE BOTTOM FLOOR OF THE BUILDING, BECAUSE I _CUT THE CORDS_! THAT'S RIGHT, PAL! I'VE SCREWED OVER EVERYBODY IN THE FRICKIN' HEADQUARTERS, AND I FEEL PERFECTLY FINE! NO MORE TRANSPORTATION DUTY FOR ME!" 

Soon enough, the azure Dragoon had ran all the way up the nearby stairs and vanished out of sight, quite frightened. 

Back in the simultion lab, Cain had managed to forcefully sit X's sorry rear end on the matted cushion of the training table. He was quite surprised with the blue reploid's actions, which had not only crossed the line, but urinated on it. The doctor certainly wasn't stupid, as he could clearly see that something had to be done to prevent it from happening again. After some deep mental pondering, he figured there could only be one logical solution... though it was one he wasn't quite happy with. 

"Alright X, listen up. I have a proposal for you," Cain soothed, trying to keep the disgruntled reploid stable. "Your behavior over the past few weeks has been rather... well, disturbing. The bedpans you've been washing lately have all had _'All work and no play makes X a dull boy'_ wirtten all over them, scaring the living hell out of many of the patients. I've also received complaints about some of our Hunters finding medical vaccines in their cafeteria meals, with several of them going into berserk, uncontrollable spasms or expreiencing terribly nasty diarrheia. And frankly, many of our most helpful and experienced mechanics are scared to death of you - I saw a human Hunter literally _piss_ himself when you approached him in the hallway (for reasons that I'm not very sure of)." The old man ruffled through his long beard with his twitching fingers. "X, the time has come for action. I'm not completely sure _what_ the source of this behavior would be, but the most plausible reason would be that you're suffering from a great deal of stress due to the extreme amount of work you've been doing." 

X stared at him narrow-eyed. "Goshers, Mr. Cain. What would make you say _that?_" he stated sarcastically. 

The doctor raised his hand. "Please X, let me finish. As I said, you are most certainly suffering from excessive stress. That brings me to my final decision. I really don't like doing this, but I believe it would be best if I... let you go." 

The Neo Blue Bomber was dumbfounded. "You mean... you're _expelling_ me from the Hunters?" he inquired feverishly. 

"Oh, Heavens no," the doctor replied. "I wouldn't do something as harsh as that unless it was a very serious matter. No, what I mean by 'letting you go' is that I'm going to put a stop to all of the work I've had you do. I really believe you've learned your lesson since that incident with the capsule vandalism, and yet I also believe it would be the best for your mental stability as well. What you need to do is get plenty of rest and take a break from--" 

"Wait just a flargin' second," X interrupted, with the doctor in mid-sentence. "What you're trying to convey to me is that... I'm _free?_" 

Cain cleared his throat. "Well... yes. That's what it comes down to." 

X really had to ponder this for a moment. "Doctor... you're not screwin' with my brain, are you?" 

The doctor smiled. "Now X, you know I wouldn't joke about something like this." 

"So that's _it?_ I'm _free?_ No strings attached?" 

"None." 

Ever-so-slowly, X could feel a wide grin spreading across his non-believing expression. He shifted his eyes from the door to Dr. Cain and back to the door again, breathing hard and releasing a hearty laugh. "I'm free! I'm really FREE!!!" he shouted as he leaped from the dirty, sweat-soaked simulation table and bolted out the same door that Glacier had exited from only minutes before. In a rather unnatural manner, he began sprinting down the hallway screaming "I'M FREE! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! I'M REALLY FRICKIN' FREE!!!" as a few thoroughly spazzed Hunters looked on with distinct awe. The ecstatic azure reploid even went as far as grabbing one of his fellow Hunters and shaking them back and forth like an abused Raggedy Ann doll, screaming in utter delight. 'Twas a matter of time before he went sailing up the steel stairway and out of sight totally, his drunken yells still echoing through the corridor. 

All Dr. Cain could really do was shamefully bury his face in his hands. 

* * *

"Dy-na-moooo! We're not supposed to be here!" 

"We're gonna get in _sooo_ much trouble if Sigma finds us up here!" 

"How many times to I have to tell you? Get the goddamn hell away from me, you morons! Go suck on some grenades or something." Dynamo flicked a strand of grey hair away from his face. "And for the last time, Cueball won't be barging in on my little escapade. It would be rather idiotic of me if I came prancing around up here and expected wax-head to show his sorry face. I ain't as stupid as you two." He turned his face back to his followers and clenched his fist. "Now I'll say it again, because I don't think you heard me well the first time... GO AWAY." 

Dynamo continued his stroll down the long corridor to Sigma's office, praying to every god imaginable that his two training partners, Dark Necrobat and Jet Stingray (pathetically deemed "Juju" and "Chad" by Sigma) would simply disappear into thin air. But woe and alas, his wishes refused to come true, as the two bumbling Mavericks continued to trottle at his heels. 

"Dy-na-mooooooo!" Stingray annoyingly whined. "What are you doing up here, anyway? We were given really strict orders to stay in the hangar area until Violen came back. If he finds out that we left, then we'd be in extremely deep crapola!" A pinch of panic met his voice. "What if Commander Violen finds the room empty, and reports it straight to master Sigma? What _then?_" 

"What if I told you that Fat-Ass Violen can cram it up his craphole with walnuts?" Dynamo sharply retorted. 

The silver reploid noticed that Jet was quite taken aback. He felt that this needed to be taken advantage of. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," he snapped. "Did I offend you, Chaddy-boy? Did something I say go against what your sweet, dear mommy taught you? Well TOO FRICKIN' BAD, Sailor Bob! You can tell your mother that she can suck a piece of cat crap." He turned away from the two and gave a hidden sneer. "Go home, babies. I have business to attend to, and I'm not gonna let it be royaly screwed up by you morons." 

Dynamo, now pissed as ever, tried once again to lose the pathetic duo as he advanced down the hallway. Luckily for the sleek warrior, the Mavericks never followed him - however, they did something a little worse. 

"DYYYY-NAAAAA-MOOOO! STOP WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING! SIGMA'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD! I'M SERIOUS!!! DYYYNAAAAMOOOOOO!" yelled Stingray at the top of his lungs. Necrobat caught on. "HE'S RIGHT, DYNAMO! DON'T DO WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE DOING! MASTER SIGMA HAS TIGHT SECURITY! YOU'RE HEADED STRAIGHT INTO A DEATH TRAP! PLEEEEEEEASE DON'T!" 

This is where Dynamo was forced to draw the line; he could take almost any kind of physical punishment, but he had absolutely no tolerance for this kind of vocal harrassment. 

He swerved around and flashed the two an angry glance. "You two just NEVER seem to give up, do yeh? Well, you know what? I'll admit it. You guys are the sunshine of my life. Whenever you guys come to greet me, I feel like I'm on top of the friggin world. The Carpenters would be damn well jealous of me. So to return the favor -" Dynamo smirked as he leveled his sturdy arm cannon in the Mavericks' direction, placing his violet visor over his eyes, "here's a little early Christmas present!" 

In an instant, a thousand volts of electricity spewed out of Dynamo's cannon and flashed violently through the air. The bolts consumed the two fully surprised Mavericks, frying them in a horribly gruesome (yet satisfying) manner. Dynamo took full pleasure in watching them go into uncontrollable spasms from the intense mix of heat and blinding pain that had consumed them. After Dynamo figured that they had been punished enough and halted the azure beams, the two could be seen sprawled motionless on the now - tattered red carpet, with large scorch marks covering their bodies. A small amount of thick smoke began to rise from their unconscious torsos and began to consume part of the hallway. 

Lifting his visor from his large eyes, Dynamo proudly observed his work. He took a great deal of pride in it. However, he hoped he hadn't drawn the attention of any of the Maverick guards, whom were all downstairs at the time. He figured he'd better take care of business before he was caught. 

After glancing around for any wary reploids, Dynamo turned 180 degrees and began to cautiously trod down the corridor, making sure not to make a sound besides the light clanging of his boots. After a somewhat short walk on the refined scarlet carpet, his eyes finally met the entrance of Master Sigma's office. The large polished doors were intricately carved with various designs on the border, and small brass doorknobs were each mounted in the middle of both of them. It was very fancy-schmancy. 

"Well...," Dynamo began as he cracked his knuckles, "looks like it's showtime." 

The sleek reploid rested his hands on each of the doorknobs and gave them a good tug. No avail; the door was clearly locked. This was to be expected, however, and Dynamo was well prepared for it. He pulled out a small ring-shaped object, which resembled something of a dial with a hole drilled in its center. He fastened it tightly to his arm cannon, which seemed to snap on automatically. Lifting the bulky cannon, he aimed it at the minute breach separating each door and fired a single concentrated laserbeam, rather than his usual burst of uncontrollable electricity. The beam sliced straight through the small separation, widening it further outwards ever-so-slightly. 

When the breach had widened enough, Dynamo halted the beam and lowered his arm cannon. He then balled up his fist and thrusted it directly into the doors, causing them to creak open. 

_First step complete..._ Dynamo thought to himself. _Now to find what I'm looking for, and then I'm out of this hellhole of a fortress...._

Dynamo slowly pushed the doors even further away from him as he began to creep his way into the dark, silent room. He switched on a light which brought a lamp beside him to life, illuminating the entire area and increasing the sleek reploid's visibility a great deal. 

His eyes darted left to right as he surveyed the area. _If my sources are accurate... then the info I'm looking for should be right..._

He walked over towards the desk in the middle of the room. 

_over..._

His eyes met a small file drawer at the bottom of the desk. 

_here!_

With that, Dynamo thrusted open the drawer with one hand, filled with anticipation. But alas, the entire drawer was empty; all that could be seen were stray pieces of shredded documents, which were totally illegible. 

"God-frickin'-dammit!" Dynamo exclaimed. "That bald-headed bastard must have hidden it someplace! DAMMIT! I _knew_ I shouldn't have underestimated his intellegence..." 

After muttering a continuous string of curses, the sleek Maverick heard the loud _kashink!_ of reploid footsteps outside of the door. "Dammit..." he repeated. "If I stay in here for too long, somebody might find me out." 

He pushed the file cabinet carefully back into place and angrily stormed out of the room. "Figures," he said to himself. "I bet those two morons have woken up already. Well, if they try to weasel anything out of me, I'll blow a hole through their asses." 

* * *

Jet Stingray, badly shaken from his injuries, brushed himself off. "Urgh... well, that wasn't very neighborly..." he muttered to himself. 

Necrobat barely managed to lift himself up from the scorched floor, stumbling before he had gotten back on his feet. He was injured far worse than his comrade; the entire left half of his body was a deep black, with cracks in his once-glimmering violet armor. He took a good look around the room, shifting his glance from the scorched floor to Stingray and back again. 

"Oww..." was all he could really say; he was extremely weak. He was just about to collapse to the floor once again until Stingray grabbed him and stood him back up. "Alright now, Necrobat. Let's not faint. We don't need that..." 

Before he could continue, Jet could see the glimmering silvery armor of Dynamo storming down the carpeted hallway. He didn't say a word to the duo as he walked towards them; he simply pushed Stingray to the side and walked sheepishly to the end of the corridor, dissapearing from sight. It left the two very much confused. 

"Wonder what's up _his_ ass," Jet commented. 

It wasn't very long after Dynamo's departure that another figure came darting towards them, this time from the direction that Dynamo had left from. It was Spike Rosered; it seemed like he had been running a great deal, as he looked severely flustered and worn out. He was panting by the time he had reached the hallway, and rested an open palm against the wall. 

"You guys... hurry... you've got to hurry..." he muttered. 

"Hurry?" Necrobat shakily voiced. "For what?" 

Rosered took another deep breath as he sputtered out one more sentence. "Vi...Vile.... downstairs...he's being.... revived.... _RIGHT NOW_...." 

* * *


	10. Genocide in Jeopardy

**Chapter 10: Genocide in Jeopardy**

* * *

The light orange-and-black armor of ex-general Wiedl glistened luminously against the dim light shedding from the florescent lighting, harmoniously humming from the center of the ceiling. It was the only sound being produced in that musty, cramped office; that is, besides the merry whistling of the massive reploid. He was in quite a cheery mood, and expressed it fluently through his childish grin. It was a grin he wore almost all the time. 

With his bulky fingers, Wiedl clenched the rounded handle of his coffee mug, with the slogan "World's Biggest Jerkoff" printed on it's yellowish surface. He had gotten the novelty mug from his best "buddy", Commander Zero of the 0th (Zeroth? That's a wee bit awkward...) Shinobi Unit, as last year's Christmas present. He, as he did almost all things, had taken it as a joke; he was a bit oblivious to the fact that Zero and many of the other Hunters believed that it labeled the former general quite accurately. 

Taking a sip of the caffeine-loaded beverage, Wiedl took a glance at his computer monitor staring back at him. He was still upholding his duty to keep track of any irregular activity that occured in the location in suspect (point 1800F77, to be exact) and to report it to the Hunter authorities immediately. Lately, however, he had taken a rather lax additude towards his work, and had spent most of his time reading the book X had lent to him, entitled _The Big Book of Battle Basics for Beginners and Drooling Idiots_ (TBBBBBDI. What an acronym, eh?). The book's plethora of combat data and seemingly infinite supply of colorful images had kept the behemoth of a reploid entertained for the past week, and it still lay spread open on his desk with various coffee stains splattered all over its pages. Wiedl had a rather infamous habit of taking lousy care of borrowed items, especially books. 

Hearing the sound of tiny metallic legs clangling softly against the floor, Wiedl glanced away from his computer monitor too see his spyderoid companion (and only _real_ friend), Weedo, lapping up tiny puddles of excess coffee sprinkled all over his messy floor. He seemed to be enjoying the robust taste of the liquid at first, but began to unnaturally quiver after the scaldingly hot temperature of the beverage burned the insides of his miniature jaws. He glanced at his master with a look of confusion and shock. 

"Come on now, Weedo," Wiedl beckoned to his pet, raising his finger in a discipliary manner. "Let's not be drinking something like coffee. It's not healthy for a young spyderoid such as yourself. You drink too much of it, you'll become addicted to it, and the rest of your life'll be a living hell. You'll be crawling around the headquarters like a drunken yak in heat, attacking random workers and Hunters just trying to get some of the stuff. We don't want that, now do we?" 

Weedo lowered his melancholy gaze to the floor. If any other reploid were in that room at the moment, they would've marveled at the way Wiedl displayed the same eccentric and smart-alecky attitude to almost everybody, even those he felt closest too. 

Wiedl grinned to his companion with a bit of sympathy. "Now, Weedo, I'm just looking out for ya. Trying to protect you, that's all." He patted his bulky hand against the side of his leg, beckoning Weedo towards him. "Come on up here. I'm gonna need some company, what with all the work I've been doing lately." 

The tiny spyderoid gave his master a jubilant look, and with a spurt of latent energy, leaped onto Wiedl's wide lap. Content with the warmth it provided, he snuggled up into a ball and lowered his eyelids. He had fallen asleep rather quickly, and it seemed as if he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. 

The massive reploid gave a chuckle as he reached for his coffee mug once again, which had been placed in the middle of his book and had formed a neat little coffee ring on its normally clean pages. He took a large sip of the beverage, filling his mouth with its satisfying taste and taking in its sweet, pleasing aroma. Then, like he had done so many times before, he briefly glanced at his computer monitor. 

And that's when he saw it. 

Wiedl, out of extreme shock, sent all of the coffee in his mouth sailing in every which-way over the room. His entire desk was covered it the russet-hued substance, with his book now consumed with the excessive stains. The computer monitor was also totally covered in coffee, causing the entire screen to be almost totally illegible. Scared out of his wits, Weedo had already taken off for the door as fast as his little legs could carry him, with coffee trails prottling after him. Wiedl himself, also splattered with the goo, was recovering from both the shock and the horrible choking he had just experienced. Hitting his chest and coughing at the same time, he took another dazed look at his monitor, which was now just a brown blur. 

What he had just seen was almost totally inconcieveable; it had never happened before, probably never in Hunter history (as Wiedl would believe, anyway). The ex-general, still dazed, refused to believe what he had seen. It may have been just a trick of the optics, probably from overworking. Yes... that was it. Wiedl had put hours and hours of hardwork into his job, and after all this time, his mind was just playing fun little games with him. That was all there was to it, end of story. 

But then again... aw hell, he had to take a second look. 

With a trembling hand, he wiped off the sticky stimulant with an up-and-down motion. He was amazed at what he had seen; the statistics were all still there, just as unbelievably skyrocketing as he had just seen them a moment ago. Still refusing to take in what his eyes were telling him, he rubbed them roughly. But alas, the signature was still there, as he had seen it. How could he not believe it now, with the freakish information sitting there right before his eyes? 

"No... not possible..." he whispered to himself, blinking unbelieveably. His voice had changed from it's normal carefree tone to a weak, frightened one. "It's... so damn high.... a totally unnatural power... off the charts... at point 1800F77.... but what.... what kind of monster could emit something like that...?" 

* * *

The Lord of the Mavericks, infamously known across the globe as the ruthless and tyrannical reploid Sigma, marveled at his most honorable achievement ever. After endless weeks of toil, paperwork, and pounding headaches day in and day out, he had finally accomplished what he _should_ have done in the very beginning. This was a decision he would never regret, not for the rest of his days as a Maverick. 

Sigma stood at the head of the large medical table which upheld Vile's (or OmegaVile's... whatever) dormant body, which was now fully reattatached in all its glory. Sigma remained very stern and quiet, keeping his arms wrapped firmly around his back. He certainly wasn't alone; flanking him at his sides were some of his high-class soldiers, including Sergeant Serges, Commander Violen, and of course Admiral ("But he don't lead no navy!") Agile, who seemed to be the most fidgety of the bunch from his writhing anticipation. Violen, who really did realize the importance of the situation, seemed totally indifferent about it for no apparent reason at all (he could confuse easily). And Serges... well, he had been in a horrible mood ever since his incident with the mechanics, and though he was excited to see this finally being carried out, seemed quite unhappy to be there. There was another Maverick elite who stood with the former X-Hunters - Darrick, a young, dull-blue plated reploid who had been in the Maverick army for only a few months now and had already risen to the honorable rank of Colonel. He was known as a reploid who seemed to keep to himself a great deal, since he never really discussed anything with anyone in general, with the exception of Sigma. He stood with a stern expression on his metallic face, in a manner very similar to Sigma's. 

On the far sides of the room were multitudes of eager Maverick soldiers, stationed behind thick layers of high-quality tempered glass. Though those who stood in the front had an excellent view of the events going on in the room, many of the other soldiers in the rear were fighting to gain a frontmost position; they could be heard bickering with eachother noisily from inside the room, tempered glass or no tempered glass. Though they had been scolded countless times by those trying to concentrate on their work, the enraged soldiers didn't seem to take heed to the warnings at all. They just never seemed to be able to behave themselves, and further discipline would only push them even further. 

Closely monitoring Vile's progression on a nearby monitor was Sigma's chief mechanic, M-24. The sleek black reploid was also very serious about the matter, and had been the one who had recently announced that Vile's rebirth would most certainly take place on that day. Unsurprisingly, news traveled fast throughout the fortress, and soon enough almost every soldier in the building had shown up to see for themselves. Sigma did originally intend on the event being a private matter, but he figured it didn't matter either way - rather, he thought it to be a good thing for the soldiers (especially the rookies), since they would be able to see a true revolution take place right before their eyes. Jet Stingray, Spike Rosered, and Dark Necrobat had just recently rushed down to the main floor to watch as well, and seemed very flustered once they had stopped their long jog throughout the fortress. The only soldier not present was Dynamo; he had stormed off past Sigma's office to his quarters, rather angry and totally uninterested in seeing some washed-up soldier get a third chance at life. 

M-24 conveyed Vile's statistics to Sigma and the others as he kept his watch. "Power signature far exceeding normal, concentrated output... Vital statistics in perfect condition... CPU online and fully operational... he's almost ready, Master Sigma..." 

"Excellent," was Sigma's low-toned reply. It didn't quite show from an outside viewpoint, but deep inside Sigma's mind lived an extreme anticipation for this day. He thought back to every chance he had at transforming Vile in the past, but was almost powerless to do so; during the first Reploid War, Vile had been a true menace after a glitch in his programming caused him to go berserk, killing many innocent Hunters and other reploids in the process. This was soon stopped by Dr. Cain, however - somehow, the elderly doctor had managed to subdue the insane reploid, deactivate him, suppress his awesome power to about a fifth of what it had been previously, label him as a complete failure and seal him away forever. Cain never had intended on trying to re-convert him, because the glitch in his programming would eventually take him over once again, and then all hell would break loose. Then, after Sigma had announced his war against all of humanity, the Maverick decided that Vile would make a great addition to his cause and needed to return. So, he found his comatose body, reactivated him, and finally set him free. Of course, back then, Sigma had totally underestimated the power of X and Zero and felt it unnecessary to release Vile's latent power. This was a huge mistake on Sigma's part, obviously, as the combined efforts of the two Hunters were more than enough to destroy the crazed Maverick, Goliath and all (though it _was_ at the expense of Zero's life). 

Then, of course, came the second Reploid War. Now, back then, Sigma _really_ thought he had the Hunters in a vice grip, since many of their forces had grown weak and X was the only true elite mercenary remaining in the group. And then there was the damning fact that he had Zero's dismembered parts, which had to account for something. But once again, he was thwarted; The blue bastard managed to destroy all of the newly-organized X Hunters, regain all of Zero's parts, _and_ destroy Sigma for a second time. All Sigma could create was some crappy black-clad Zero replica, in hopes that it would take X by surprise and kill him while his guard was down. After that little incident, he dismissed Zero - the one he knew would have been a much greater soldier if he had returned to his Maverick roots - as a lost cause. The Hunter had too strong a spirit of justice to be evil, and converting him would take far too much work. Also, obtaining the crimson Hunter would surely be a living hell. 

It wasn't until Dr. Doppler was infected with the Maverick Virus that Sigma began to truly consider what the fallen Vile could've really been capable of. He also was forced to consider the unfortunate fact that Vile was long gone. That is, until the clever Doppler managed to find the Maverick's body and revive him with some fancy-schmancy new upgrades. Doppler, though he knew that Vile had great potential, _still_ decided to supress his power; unlike Sigma, he believed that Vile's overwhelming free will combined with his horrific power could drive him to turn against the doctor. Therefore, though Vile was designed to be stronger than he had been previously, he still didn't measure up to Sigma or even Doppler. It was for this reason that X and Zero managed to take down the enraged Maverick once again - but in an excellent effort to warp X's mind, Vile had left with some rather haunting final words. Vile had promised to haunt X until the day he died, and Sigma intended to make that freakish nightmare a reality. 

That was when luck came knocking at Sigma's door. After being rebuilt himself, Sigma still had minor ambitions of Vile's power; but alas, he was positive this time that the Maverick was gone for good. He should not have doubted true fate, however; the searching of the ruins that were once Doppler's laboratory were only intended to find traces of rare earth metals that could either fund the Maverick cause or be used to create powerful new weapons and armors. But the two technician reploids that Sigma had sent out had found something much more valuable. And this time, things were much different; Vile's control chip was amazingly still intact, and even better, Sigma had full control over the Maverick, since his strong free will was not in action. Vile had become Sigma's marionette, and now, his emotions would not comprehend anything but direct orders from the Lord of the Mavericks himself. It certainly was an unspeakably cruel thing to deny a reploid's humanlike free will, but then again, Sigma wasn't known to administer much mercy. 

All of those failures of the past, Sigma thought to himself, had lead to this solitary moment which would hail the ultimate elimination of humanity forever. It was quite a joyous thing for the Mavericks. 

Through all of his mental pondering, Sigma had failed to hear all of M-24's little announcements. "Just a few more minutes, Master Sigma. I need to run a few more procedures, then Omega will be up to speed and ready for rebirth," the sleek black mechanic stated. 

"Well, hurry it up," Sigma grunted. "You know I'm not that patient a person. Tell me, 24, are these 'proceedures' of yours _really_ that necessary? Hmm?" 

M-24 scratched his head quizzically. Before responding, he whispered something into the ear of a fellow mechanic beside him, who whispered something back inaudiably. He turned back to Sigma and nodded. "Yessir, I believe so. We're using them to fully test out Vile's power output, as well as scan his loyalty to us in the process." 

Sigma rubbed his chin. "Alright then, I guess it's worth the wait." 

From the side of the room, the corner of Sigma's eye spotted a couple of Maverick soldiers goofing off like the idiots they were. A taller reploid was shoving the face of a shorter and bulkier one into the glass wall, smudging the little guy's cheek on the fine glass and causing it to expand three times its normal size. Under normal circumstances, Sigma would have gladly beheaded both of them with his scythe. But now was not the time. 

Twasn't long before Sigma heard M-24's stern voice bellow in his ear. "Master Sigma, sir? Everything is ready now. Vile's status is fully up to par, and he's fully prepared for his rebirth. Once he wakes up, he will have no memory of his past besides his loyalty to us. He'll have no true emotions or free will, only the desire to destroy humans. He will have..." 

"I _know_ already, dammit!" Sigma shouted as he bared his teeth. "Just revive him already, for Pete's sake! And don't make me raise my voice again at you! I'm starting to feel another migrane coming along..." 

Sigma rested his open palms against his bald head and moaned a bit. He really felt that he needed to sit down for just a minute, be he reminded himself that he certainly couldn't do so now. 

M-24 shrugged his shoulders. "Well, everyone..." he bellowed to everyone in the room, "here goes nuthin'." 

Surrounded by hundreds of Mavericks watching him with distinct awe, M-24 attached a large doo-hickey into the rear of Vile's dormant cranium, which look like something of a support wire. Connecting the opposite end of the cord to a nearby computer system, the mechanic punched some codes into the machine. After he had finished, a clear beeping sound could be heard noisly. It was then that the countdown began. 

M-24 spoke loudly, so that everyone around him could hear his shouts. "Here it goes... five..." 

The three X-Hunters each inhaled deeply. "Four..." 

Jet Stingray pressed his face against the glass. "Three..." 

A stray mechanic choked from a swig of motor oil. "Two..." 

Sigma chewed nervously on his pointer finger, almost peeling off its metallic surface. "One..." 

M-24 pressed a final button. A burst of excitement echoed throughout the entire room as he spoke one last word. _"NOW."_

* * *

In an instant, a surge of energy spread over Vile's body. It was something he had never felt before in his life. Something... unnatural. But it was amazing... almost intoxicating. He enjoyed it... and yet, there was something terribly wrong with it, and Vile knew it. Something horribly evil, something that could be used for unspeakable acts of cruelty and violence if placed into the wrong hands. 

But... where was he now? His mysterious, crimson eyes glowed faintly through his bulky, orange combat helmet. By some awkward fluke, the soldier was still alive and had partially regained consciousness. He managed to lift up his head and glance down at the rest of his dormant body; his previously dull-blue armor had been replaced with sturdy, brilliantly-colored firey orange armor, with intricate gold trimmings. What a kind gesture. But who had revived him? What was going on...? 

It wouldn't be long before his questions would be answered, as a booming voice greeted Vile's ears... a voice that was terribly familiar. "OmegaVile..." it said sternly, "...welcome to your new life." 

Vile's eyes went aglow. He pushed the upper half of his body upwards to meet the individual standing directly in front of the table he was laying on. He was quite bulky in figure, with sturdy battle armor shimmering under a dark cloak that covered almost all of his body, leaving only his head and chest visible. His face was extremely familiar; dark, colorless eyes, with a scarlet gem on it's forehead below a hairless scalp. It wore a very sly, wily grin on its face, which seemed to represent years of cruelty and deception. Vile didn't quite know why, but he felt a little dislike towards this towering figure. Something was very wrong about him. 

"Who... are you?" Vile questioned. There was something odd about his voice; his previous evil, raspy tone of voice was replaced with a very soft and peaceful one. "Where am I..? I really don't remember anything that happened to me..." 

He swerved his helmeted head around the entire room. That eerie figure standing before him wasn't the only being in the room. Rather, his eyes met a multitude of various beings surrounding him, all trying to get a closer look at him. It was an extremely awkward sight. 

The bald reploid gave another smile. "Vile... It's not surprising that you can't think clearly. Well, if you really want to know..." He cleared his throat. "You see, after your little tiff with X and Zero, we believed you to be dead. Though you had been rebuilt once before, we thought it to be a waste of time trying to find your body again. Obviously, we were wrong." He widened his grin even further, releasing a satisfied chuckle. "It's a miracle that we found you, Vile. There was a deep, dark power hidden within you... something that could cause a great deal of destruction, and could even take this entire planet. We knew that it had to be unleashed. It was the only possible way to destroy out adversaries... and now, that power has finally been unleashed. OmegaVile, with your incredible speed and strength, you shall be the reploids' ticket to glory! Finally, we will rid ourselves from the evil that is... _them."_

Vile was befuddled. X? Zero? "Them"? What was he talking about? 

He shook his head in confusion. "I... I don't know what you're talking about, sir. Who exactly is 'them'?" 

The bulky figure was a bit surprised. He looked at Vile as if the orange reploid were some sort of drooling moron. "Omega... how could you not remember? The humans are our enemy! They have befouled this planet for centuries! They have treated us like garbage disposal all these years! We shall destroy them for good! Them..." A look of disgust spread across his face. "...and their putrid protectors, those 'Maverick Hunters'. Filthy traitors! Turning against their reploid bretheren to save the hides of a bunch of tree-dwelling ape people. Especially X and Zero, the two who have managed to shut us down on three separate occasions... they don't know what kind of potential they could have had if they were Mavericks. Disgusting!" He placed his hand on Vile's shoulder. "OmegaVile... you will destroy all of those repulsive humans! And their little Hunters, too!" 

Suddenly, a bizarre wave of memories took control of Vile's mind. He remembered everything now; going on an unholy rampage, killing thousands of reploids and being deactivated by a familiar bearded scientist; being freed by a large, bulky figure and losing his life against two figures, one in red and one in blue; being revived by a servant of that bulky figure and attempting to enact his revenge on his assassins, only to be killed once again. He remembered the powerful emotions he had felt then... anger, hatred, a longing for vengeance. He remembered all those who fought during those wars... X and Zero of the Maverick Hunters... the armies of humans, who he had been taught to loathe... and then, there were the others - the ones who had recruited him and convinced him to go on an violent war against the humans, called the Mavericks. Finally, he remembered that bulky figure - the ruthless, coldhearted individual who had brought about the deaths of thousands of innocent humans, only to prove some sort of blind superiority. It was the same figure who had first taught him the supposed evil of these humans... the one who had forced him to battle X and Zero. It was the same figure that was standing before him right then, who had given him another chance to be ruthlessly evil... Vile knew it could only be... 

"...S...Sigma?" 

The bulky Maverick known as Sigma smiled. "Yes, OmegaVile. I am your Master, Sigma. You follow orders from me - and _only_ me - for the rest of your existence. The only time you will follow orders from someone other than myself will be when _I_ order you too. Failure to follow any orders will follow with _strict discipline._ Now for your first order, Omega - get up from that table. We need to run some specialized tests on you, and afterwards you are to begin your training. We need you in tip-top shape to battle against the Hunters. Now UP!" 

But Vile didn't respond. All he did was shake his head constantly, as if he didn't understand a word Sigma was saying. He rose his open palm at the Maverick and shook it. "No... no, I can't. I refuse." 

Now Sigma was shocked. How could he be refusing orders? He was programmed to follow orders from him at all times! How could he be thinking on his own? He wasn't allowed to do that... 

"Excuse me," Sigma angrily grunted. "What makes you think you have a choice here, OmegaVile? Now GET UP!" 

"No, Sigma. I refuse. I can't join you," Vile stated much more sternly than before. "What you and your entire Maverick forces stand for is terribly immoral and senseless. You kill innocent human beings who have done nothing to harm you in any way... the same humans who gave us life and cared for us from the beginning of reploid creation. And what are you trying to prove from this? That you're superior?" He shook his head in disgust. "Terrible. From the horrific acts that your Mavericks have done in past years, all that you have proved is that you are far worse than humans are. If you are not happy with the way that they control this planet, then you should assist them rather than oppress them. All you are doing is spreading your extreme stupidity all across the Earth, influencing reploid after reploid to support your blind cause. Pitiful." 

Now Sigma was livid. He wouldn't stand to listen to this rubbish, especially if it blatantly insulted the Maverick cause. Something was very wrong with Vile... he had emotions, which were supposed to be removed from his system. Not only that, but these emotions weren't evil at all - rather, they were human-supporting, goodie-two-shoes ones that would make the Pope puke. But what went wrong? How could something like this happen...? 

Now Sigma was shouting. "OMEGAVILE! How dare you!" he yelled. "Don't you EVER say things like that about the proud Maverick forces! Now you march your orange ass UP HERE and DO WHAT WE TELL YOU, or I'll rip off your head and shove it up there!" 

Again, Vile didn't listen to the enraged Maverick leader. "I said _NO,"_ he finalized. "And stop calling me 'OmegaVile', or whatever. I refuse to go by that name. I'll choose my own title, thank you very much. And furthermore, I will not let you use my power for your ridiculous cause. I've caused enough terror and death in the past already, and I won't continue to do so now." He proudly pointed a finger at himself. "I'm going to redeem myself, Sigma. I'm going to use this power you've released within me to help others that I've wronged, and forever put a stop to this entire operation before you can use it for your evil desires. It has to be done." 

That was it. Now it was CERTAIN that something was terribly wrong with Vile. 

Sigma didn't speak; his throat was far to dry. All he could do was just stared blankly at OmegaVile, the reploid who was destined for certain greatness, the one who would hail the end of humanity... now, he was some peace-loving hippy-wuss who loved humans and hated the Mavericks. It disgusted Sigma beyond words. 

"Agile... Serges... M-24..." Sigma mumbled in silent rage. "Come... come with me into the back room. I need to have.... a little _chat_ with the three of you. NOW." He turned to the mechanics standing near Vile, with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. "You mechanics. Keep and eye on Omega. Don't let him wander off anywhere, or I'll personally disembowel each and every one of you. Darrick, Violen... keep an eye on them." 

With that, Sigma stomped his way to the back room door, motioning for the other three to follow him. After they had all entered the room, he slammed the door behind him angrily, leaving Vile alone with two elite soldiers and a handful of stupid mechanics. 

_This is my chance,_ Vile thought to himself. _I can escape now. Those two elite soldiers don't seem to be too tough to manipulate, and I can't say much for those mechanics either. All I need is a good distraction..._

"Hey, fellahs," he said in a smooth, friendly tone. "Anyone up for some fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies?" 

* * *

"IDIOTS! EVERY ONE OF YOU!" Sigma screamed at the three Mavericks cowering in the corner of the room. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM??? HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A RUTHLESS, EFFICIENT KILLING MACHINE! NOT SOME GREENPEACE PANSY-ASSED WUSS!" 

"Please, sir!" a frightened Agile pleaded, kneeling on the ground. "We didn't expect this to happen! Please just hear us out-" 

"I DON'T NEED TO HEAR YOU OUT, TWINKLE-TOES!" Sigma bellowed angrily once again. "DON'T YOU REALIZE THE KIND OF DAMAGE YOU'VE DONE??? YOU'VE _RUINED_ OUR ENTIRE OPERATION! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU PEOPLE!!!!" 

"Sir... please, let me explain," M-24 chimed in, sounding surprisingly calm. "When Vile's power output is pushed to the maximum, it can cause problems due to a definite glitch in his systems, which was what caused him to turn evil in the first place. We believed that this glitch would only support Vile's original evil nature, my leige. But, unfortunately, the glitch seems to have worked against him, and has turned him into a being exactly the opposite of what we had intended him to become. There was nothing we could do to prevent it, my leige..." 

"What do you mean, 'nothing you could do to prevent it'???" Sigma shouted. "Didn't you run any procedures to prevent this? Any tests? Didn't those low-brain mechanics you have assisting you help at all? How could you overlook something like THIS???" 

"Sigma..." Serges began. "Please, don't hassle me about this! It was clearly the fault of Agile and 24! I had NOTHING to do with it! All I did was assist with the battle armor. Nothing more, my leige. I don't deserve to be punished!" 

Sigma shook his head in anger. "I don't care! As far as I'm concerned, ALL three of you are responsible with this whole mess. What will become of Vile now? If we don't do something about that lame excuse for a Maverick, who knows what he could be capable of doing! He'll go and join those God-forsaken Hunters, rally them all up, inform them of our plans and cause them to annihalate ALL of us! Then it's over for us for _good_ this time! What will we do? WHAT WILL WE DO, DAMMIT???" He fell to the ground and began to frustratingly pound his fist against the cold rock floor. He could almost be heard sobbing. It was quite a disturbing sight. 

M-24 felt he needed to console his leader. "Master Sigma... please don't get too upset. We can take care of this whole mess easily, my leige. All we need to do is temporarily deactivate Vile, perform surgery on his control systems and disable the glitch. Then he'll be evil and tyrannical, just as you had intended, Master." 

Sigma looked up at M-24 and blinked. "We...we could do that, 24? It's that simple, is it?" 

"Yes, my leige." 

Without speaking, the broken Maverick lifted himself from the ground and brushed the dust off his cloak. "Very well then, 24," he stated. "With the help of the mechanics, Agile, and Serges, you will render OmegaVile unconscious, tamper with him again, and turn him into the killing machine he was intended to become. If you can pull that off, 24, there's the possibility that I _won't_ have Velguarder tear you limb from limb. Again, it's only a possibility. I think that Vile's anti-Maverick speech will haunt my dreams forever." He strolled back to the door and motioned towards the three relieved Mavericks. "Let's go, the three of you. If we remain calm and get this done correctly, we'll be back in business in no time. Now, if only I could do something about this goddamn migrane..." 

* * *

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HOLY HELL?!" Sigma shouted, shocked beyond belief. The previously calm laboratory room was now filled with stray Mavericks, all socializing with one another. Each one was eating a small chocolate chip cookie, seemingly enjoying it a great deal. They crowded the entire room, leaving Vile's table totaly blocked from view. 

"C'mon! Break it up, all of you! Out of my way, slacker!" He yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd. "What _is_ this? What are you people doing...?" 

After shoving his way through a seemingly endless amount of Mavericks, Sigma finally found OmegaVile's table. What he saw next was shocking - the table was barren. Vile was gone. 

"WHAT?!" Sigma bellowed with a bit of panic in his voice. "Where is OmegaVile? What happened to him?????" 

"Oh, hey Master Sigma!" a voice behind him greeted. Sigma swerved around to see Commander Violen, taking a chomp out of a large chocolate chip cookie and holding a large tray of them. "Sorry this place looks a little crowded. OmegaVile offered us some of these cookies after you and the others exited into the back room." 

Sigma stared at the behemoth in disbelief. "Where the bloody hell did he get CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES???" 

"I'm not really sure, my leige," he mumbled, taking another bite out of his cookie. "But their quite good, no doubt. Here," he offered, "try one. They really warm your stomach..." 

"I DON'T WANT A FILTHY COOKIE!!!" he shouted, slamming the tray out of Violen's loose grip. "Tell me, you moron! Where did OmegaVile run off to after he gave all of you these stupid things?" 

Violen thought for a minute. "Hmm... I'm not quite sure. We were all too busy eating these cookies to really notice. There was a loud crashing sound, though. Dunno if that really counts for anything." With that, he turned away from Sigma to socialize with Darrick. 

Nervously, Sigma glanced around the room, looking for something - _anything_ - that would at least give him a clue of Vile's location. He searched around frantically - the door, the walls, the other Mavericks... no avail. 

And then, he noticed the shattered window glass. 

Filled with queasy energy, the Lord of the Mavericks sprinted towards the broken window and stuck the entire front half of his body outside. Down on the barren desert sand below him, he could see and orange and gold streak speeding across the terrain towards the city in the horizon. He was horrified. 

"OMEGA!" he shouted. "FINE! DO WHAT YOU WILL! WE'LL FIND YOU SOON ENOUGH! AND ONCE AGAIN, YOU'LL BE UNDER OUR CONTROL! YOU'LL COME BACK TO US SOON ENOUGH! THE HUMANS WILL TREAT YOU LIKE MOLDY CHEESE, OMEGA! GOOD LUCK TRYING TO COOPERATE WITH THOSE MORONS!!!" 

Unfortunately, Sigma had lost his footing while he was yelling to Vile. With a twist of his feet and a flailing of his arms, he was propelled out of the window and plummeted 10 floors, yelling for his momma all the way down. He hit the soft desert land with a deafening _THUD!_. 

His face buried in the sand, Sigma managed to mumble a few words during his temporary subconsciousness. 

"Vile... you'll come back... soon enough... just you wait..." 

* * *

Exausted, Vile stopped from his sprinting to take a brief breather. He had certainly ran a long distance; in only about a minute, it seemed that he had ran a good 500 miles. 

He glanced back at his would-be home, now a good ways away from him. He was glad; being apart of a twisted, disgusting oragization like the Mavericks would be something he could never stand for. He remembered all of the years he had supported their moronic cause, killing himans and reploids alike. He hated it. 

All this time, Vile had felt a heavy weight on his shoulder. He looked back to see his large shoulder-mounted plasma cannon, now a brilliant gold. He began to undo the straps that were fastened around his neck until he was able to pull the cannon off his shoulders. 

"Won't be needing this anymore," he stated as he threw the gold weapon to his side, where it collapsed in a heap behind him. He then noticed a gold Maverick symbol plated on his arm. He ripped it off and crushed it in his hand, leaving it disfigured and awkward. He gave it a small drop-kick to his side, which sent it flying into the distance until it was out of sight. 

"This is it..." he said softly to himself. "From now on, I'm going to devote the rest of my life to right my past wrongs. I'm going to redeem myself forever. And then, I can finally put a stop to the Mavericks. I know it may be hard, but hell, I'm going to get it done." 

Without looking back, Vile began to speed back to the large city in the horizon. It was then that Vile's redemption would ultimately begin. 

* * *


	11. Ray of Sunshine

**Chapter 11: Ray of Sunshine**

* * *

"I'm walkin' on sunshine...." 

It was quite a beautiful springtime afternoon in the bustling city of Terencse. Previously known as Doppler Town, the city's name was changed after the turmoil of the third Maverick war and the death of Doppler himself. Since then, the town had been named after the famous English pioneer, Johnathan Terencse, whom had settled upon the land many centuries ago. Bringing up the name 'Doppler' in the city would only re-open old wounds of the townspeople; it seemed like only yesterday that Dr. Doppler was idolized by the entire town, viewed as the one who would bring the ultimate end to Maverick outbreaks and lead the world into a new golden age. After the brilliant scientist had succumbed to the affects of the Maverick Virus, however, the world was plunged into conflict, and the aftermath of the war was not a pretty one for Terencse City, both emotionally and physically. 

But things had been looking up for the large urban city. For the past several months, the town had not a single Maverick attack, riot, brutalizing, bloodening, bombing, pogrom, beer blast... et cetera et cetera. And furthermore, there had been no trace of any human-related criminal acts (though when compared to a Maverick attack, robberies were a laughing joke). And the battered ruins of former skyscrapers, apartments, and stores had been rebuilt in all their glory. 

Taking full advantage of the beautiful scenery was a jubilant Mega Man X, cheerily striding down the busy sidewalks of the city. Like the condition of the city, things had been improving greatly for him as well; the extreme lack of Maverick-related trouble had given him a good amount of time to relax, especially after he was exodused from the horrible servitude Dr. Cain had forced him into back at Hunter HQ. Also, the paranoia and psychotic behavior that had resulted from that labor had begun to wear off, and he could finally engage in casual conversation with others besides his antique Peewee Herman doll that he loved oh so much. 

Taking a walk across town was normally something X did to get away from the pressures and responsibilities of the MHHQ and have some quiet time to himself. But this time was different - rather, X took this walk so that he could fully embrace the tranquility and elegance of the world around him. And while doing this, he enjoyed doing something else: singing random songs off the top of his head. 

"I'm walkin' on sunshine....whaa-ohhhh.... and dunnit feel GOOD!" he merrily sang as some onlookers shot him confused and irritated glances. X wasn't quite a good singer, as many of his friends and battle comrades knew all too well - they had been forced into listening to his off-key screeches countless times on both the battlefield and at the HQ. In X's mind, however, he had a beautiful opera voice that could've easily shamed Andrea Bocelli in an instant, and it needed to be heard across the world. 

Passing along the crosswalk through the traffic-lined streets at the corner of 5th and Main, X smiled to himself upon seeing the way the town had recovered in the past months. It was a great time to be alive and well, in his mind, putting aside some of the personal problems he had back home. Seeing the town in such wonderous splendor was refreshing, and he really felt that life was something worth living if you look at it more optimistically. X rarely did so, but at a time like this, he needed to. 

The azure Hunter should not have kept his hopes up, however; a loud, hoarse shouting sound approached X's ears from his left, cluttering his thoughts instantly. 

"Your kind ain't welcome here, Maverick! Now get the hell outta my store!" 

A softer, calmer voice followed. "Sir, if you'd please let me explain..." 

Glancing to his left, X saw the large neon sign of _Big Harry's Discount Hardware_, a semi-popular shop around town. Looking inside the musty storeroom through the dirty front window, X was able to make out Big Harry himself, a slightly overweight man in his mid 40s wearing a greasy off-white wifebeater shirt and a crooked baseball cap over his scruffy jet black hair. His face red-hot with fury, he leveled a twin-barrel shotgun in his burly arms, directly aiming it across the counter at a mysterious figure on the opposite side of the room. X also recognized Harry's wife, a thin-boned brunette woman in her late 30s, huddled in a frightened heap behind her husband. The only individual that X didn't recognize was the strange figure who was apparantly causing the distress inside the store; all X could see of him was a luminously brilliant mixed shade of orange and gold, with most of his figure being covered by the widened body of Big Harry. 

"I don't need no explanation, ya electronic waste of tin!" the burly man shouted, projecting his voice even louder than before. "I don't want you causin' anymore of yer hijinks in my damn workplace! Now OUT, you Maverick scumbag, or I'll put a couple dozen holes in ya!" 

This began to catch X's attention - Harry had mentioned the term "Maverick" twice, and X knew that the word wasn't exactly tossed around jokingly these days. Something serious was going on in there, and he needed to find out what. Pressing his helmet against the stained window, he continued to listen in on the scene. 

"Please, sir," the mysterious figure requested, sounding desperate not to cause a scene. "I understand what you're thinking right now, and that is that I'm going to do exactly what I did on my first couple visits here. I know I've been known to cause havoc... I've stolen your hard-earned money, I've destroyed all of your goods, I've ripped apart your well-furnished walls, and worst of all, I've uttered some rather... unnecessary... phrases to both of you. I'm especially worried about your wife, who seems to have suffered some extreme emotional damage from what I've said about her." 

"Yer damn right!" Harry's wife yelled from behind her husband. "You done labeled me a two-cent rodeo whorebag, then told my husband to done drop me off in an old NYC alleyway! Then ya done mouthed off about my momma!" A few tears escaped her eyes. "Yer a piece of pondscum, you are!" she shouted, pointing a damning finger at the stranger. 

"Yes, ma'am," the stranger began again, "I realize what I've done. I can assure you, my dear lady, that my ways have changed for the better. I understand the debt I owe to you and your husband, and I'd be happy to compensate entirely for that..." 

"There ain't no way yer compensatin' nuthin!" Harry shouted once again. "All yer gonna do is march your sorry ass outside that door and thank yer twisted God of Death and Evil that you came out in one piece!" His arms began to twitch nervously, though the shotgun remained surprisingly steady. "Now I ain't gonna say it again, yeh filthy bastard! GET THE HELL OUT!" 

X, immersed in the conversation, leaned forward even further to get a better view and placed his free elbow on the wall. Unfortunately, X wasn't really paying attention to the exact placement of his elbow, and with a clumsy slip of the arm, he landed face-first into the window in front of him, causing a loud clanging sound against his helmet. He fell to the ground, nursing the poor boo-boo planted on his cranium with an open palm. It was then that he actually began to question the kind of "protection" his helmet was meant to serve him. 

Returning to his feet, X glanced back to the store to see everyone in the room with their eyes fastened on him. Harry's wife stared at X suspiciously with narrowed, flustery eyes, while Harry himself put on a face mixed with confusion and anger. X also noticed that, during all the hubbub, Harry had shifted his body sideways towards the window, so that the true identity of the mysterious stranger on the opposite side of the counter was revealed. This came as a real shock to X, who at first woundn't believe what he was seeing; sure, the armor was a totally different color than usual, but everything else about him was rock-solid. The short, slender body, the largely oversized boots, the Boba Fett-style face mask... it all brought back the most haunting memories back to X, and a sinister voice entered his head. 

"Don't think this is the end, X!... I will haunt you... until the day you die..." 

At first, all X really could do was stand there in fear like a helpless little puppy dog. After what seemed like eternity, he managed to channel all of his emotions into one, concentrated vocal action. 

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHYYYYAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" 

Screaming off the top of his lungs like a crazed banshee, X sprinted away from the hardware store window as fast as his legs could handle in the direction of Hunter HQ, leaving nothing but a blueish blur behind him. 

* * *

Shutting the gym door firmly behind him, Zero trudged wearily into the barren front lobby of the Maverick Hunter Headquarters, his saber safely inserted into its sheath. On normal days, the room would have been filled to the brim with new applicants, socializing Hunters, doctors, technicians, mechanics, et cetera. But after the Third War, the steep drop of Maverick outbreaks had caused reploids and humans alike to lose enthusiasm about becoming a Hunter, believing that there would be nothing left to fight for a good long while. And, for the time being, they were right. 

But Zero, who was always eager to engage in battle, didn't show a lax attitude towards his training, unlike many of the other Hunters. Though he had previously expressed doubt that Sigma and his Maverick posse of death would be returning anytime soon, he also knew very well that Sigma was probably the most persistant bastard of a reploid that ever existed, and his recovery was still quite possible. And, even if he didn't return to the Maverick throne, one of his high-ranking cohorts would surely take his place, and if that happened, Zero would be damned if he was going to march into battle unprepared. He didn't quite understand why some of his comrades didn't believe likewise. 

Glancing across the room, Zero could see two solitary figures sitting quietly on a large couch. As he advanced towards them, he recognized them almost instantly - the one seated on the left was an azure-plated dragon reploid with a string of red beads down his wide neck, claws on his hands and feet, and a row of menacing teeth covering the inside of his long mouth. He had a small amount of bandages covering his chest and shoulders, which were beginning to peel of partially. Seated next to him was a humanoid reploid with dullish grey armor, thin arms and feet, and a roundish face with narrowed blue eyes and gold jewel piece plated on his forehead. His face was buried in his left hand, and it seemed that he was asleep. Zero wouldn't mistake them for anybody else. 

"Glacier. Icarus. Nice to see ya." 

The azure Dragoon smiled. "Hey, Zero! Looks like you've been training, eh?" 

Zero smiled. "Yesiree. You guys been doing the same?" 

Glacier shrugged. "Somewhat. Icarus and I were training a little while ago, and we spotted my brother in there." He shook his head with pity. "He's been in there for weeks, and he hasn't paid attention to anybody or anything but himself. He hasn't even done as much as glance at his colleagues in the 14th Unit. I dunno what's wrong with him." 

Zero glanced back at the gym. "You think he's still p-o'd about the talkin' I gave him?" 

Glacier scratched his head. "Naw. Probably some personal tiff. Best not bother him, I guess." 

Deciding to sit down and relax, Zero took a seat on the couch next to both Glacier and Icarus. "So," he began, pointing a finger at the dormant Icarus, "he sleeping?" 

The Dragoon nodded. "Yep, he was pretty beat after our little training session. Now that you mention it, it's probably best that I wake him up now. He's been napping for over an hour." 

Balling his hand into a fist, Glacier gave the sleeping Icarus a good whacking upside the head. "WAKE UP, you lazy idjit!" he shouted. 

Icarus instantly sprung up from the couch and onto his feet, nursing the bruise on his head with both hands. He then made a 180 degree spin to meet Glacier and Zero, saluting both of them. "Commander Zero... Commander Dragoon..." he mumbled in a monotone military-esque voice. 

Glacier raised a hand. "Please, Icarus, spare us of the boot-camp phrases. Just sit yo ass down, boy." 

The dull-grey armored Hunter took Glacier's adivce and took a seat next to him, with a big smirk on his face. While Icarus wasn't the greatest fighter, he was one of the better-skilled soldiers in the 12th Unit due to his extreme amount of speed. He was known to be one of the big jokesters of the squad, and had trouble of taking things seriously at times. 

"Sorry, Glaish," he apologized, putting his arms behind his head. "I was having a nasty dream in which I entered the body of a human baby and was force-fed large heapings of chicken wings." 

Glacier nodded. "Wow. You must be pretty mentally disturbed." 

"I am." 

Zero, getting comfortable on his little couch, pulled his saber out from its sheath and began to toss the handle up and down, catching it with one hand. Glacier and Icarus both gave looks of worry. 

"Hey, Zero..." Glacier began. "You sure it's safe to be throwing that thing around? What if it activates somehow?" 

Zero chuckled, as if Glacier had asked the most unintelligent question that ever existed. "Don't be a douche, Glaish. This baby isn't gonna activate anytime soon. I put the safety on." 

Throwing the silver handle into the air once again, Zero was caught by surprise when he saw lime-hued ray of light shoot out of the airborne object. With a sudden dodge by the Crimson Hunter, the saber barely missed his right hand and went directly into the arm of the couch, slicing it clear of its base. All three of the Hunters shared surprised glances as they stared in awe at the destruction, with the saber still glowing next to it. 

Icarus, who seemed to get a kick about the fact that Zero's arm was almost sliced off, gave a hearty chuckle. "Some safety, Zero." 

"Eh... shut up," the crimson 'ploid muttered as he reached for his malfunctional saber. He deactivated it immediately, causing the beam of green light to completely vanish. "Sorry, fellahs. Must be something wrong with the damn thing. Just goes to show you the wonders of MHHQ's funding, eh?" 

Glacier glanced worryingly at the remains of the couch's arm. "You know, Zero, you're gonna be in deep shiet if Cain gets a good look at this." 

"Meh," Zero stated casually, re-inserting his saber into its sheath. "How's he gonna know that I'm the culprit? I ain't coming forward." He stretched his arms out and rested his back against the soft couch coushin. "I hope to God that there weren't any other witnesses, though. I don't wanna turn out like X." 

A loud clanging of metallic feet prompted Glacier to turn around. "Speak of the devil." 

Running in their direction was indeed MegaMan X, pumping his feet as hard as he could. He barely managed to stop himself before he could plunge into the couch that Zero was resting in, and he was breathing a lot harder than normal. He seemed extremely stressed about something. 

Zero lifted himself up with one arm to measure up to X slightly. "X, my boy! Nice to see ya back from your walk. What seems to be the problem, my dear compadre?" 

"GABBA THWABBA GIDDAYA SIIBA JEEZIZ WABBA LIGGUN _GHA!"_ he shouted nervously, flailing his arms in every which way. 

Quite surprised by X's sudden outburst, Zero, Icarus, and Glacier all exchanged confused glances. Zero picked himself upwards from his couch and stood on his legs to meet X face to face. 

"You feelin' alright there, buddy?" Zero queried. "You haven't been puffing the magic dragon lately, have ya?" 

X responded with another string of nonsensical jabbering. "NO PUFF PUFF!" he shouted. "VAVA VOYVAR KIGGA JIGGA FLIEFLO GLICKINABARA ABRAKADABRAALAKAZAM!" 

Zero scratched his head. "I'm not following ya." 

"ICAW!" he began again. "ICAW ZE VIGGA JIGGA WAH WAH!!!"" 

"C'mon, X. Sound it out. Think before you say each word." 

"ICAW!" 

"...ice saw?" 

"ICAW! ICAW!!!" 

"...you mean, for sawing ice? You need an ice saw?" 

"I _SAW_ HIM!" X finally conveyed. "I SAW HIM IN HARRY'S HARDWARE! HE WAS DOIN' BUSINESS IN HARRY'S! I'M SERIOUS!" 

"Alright now, X!" Zero shouted, placing his hands on X's shoulders. "Get a hold of yourself! Now, tell me as calmly as possible _who_ you saw in Harry's store." 

X pulled away from Zero's grasp and began to catch his breath. He knelt down on the floor and coughed a few times before responding to Zero. "I saw... Vile... in Harry's..." he huffed out. "He was... looking at me... he's haunting me... he's after me... right now..." 

Zero rubbed his chin and nodded. "Well, X... that's sounds like quite a nasty situation we have here." He offered a hand to X. "Now c'mon, get up. There's only one way to solve this little problem with Vile, and that's for you to march your behind over to Harry's and deliver the little bugger of a Maverick back here yourself." 

X was shocked. "Are you _nuts?_ That bastard is thirsty for fresh blood! MY blood! You expect me to go back and get him here by _myself?"_

Zero chuckled. "Now X, we all know that your blood is as disgusting and polluted as hell, and nowhere near being fresh. Trust me, you'll be fine and dandy like sour candy. Now let's get goin, X!" 

With that, Zero began pushing X towards the HQ exit, with the Neo Blue Bomber struggling and protesting all the way. Finally, Zero gave him one final shove out the door, and locked the entrance tightly. He paraded back to his two comrades with a big smirk on his face. 

"Well, that's that," he finalized smugly, wiping his hands together. 

"I dunno, Zero," Glacier chimed in. "X seemed pretty stressed out there. You sure that it's safe to send him off on the streets alone, looking for a potentially dangerous Maverick?" 

Zero gave another sadistic chuckle. "Oh, puh-leeze. Dr. Cain told me that X is still a little delusional from his working binge. As his best friend, it is my sworn duty to make sure that he learns his lesson and realizes that he's just seeing very kooky things. It's the best way for him to recover." 

Icarus nodded. "Wow, Zero. You must be one hell of a friend to have." 

Zero smirked. "Aren't I?" 

* * *

"I swear to m'lord, I'm gunna pull this trigger!" Harry yelled for the billionth time. He kept the shotgun leveled directly at Vile's helmeted face. 

"Please, sir. Let's not resort to violence so hastily," Vile calmly stated. "Like I've said, my visit here is not intended to cause any harm, but rather to partially compensate for the damage I've caused you in my past. Tell me, what was the total sum of money you were forced to pay for the damages?" 

Harry, still keeping the gun level, mumbled a response. "Err... 10,300 credits." 

Vile pulled out a wad of money and began flipping through the bills. "I apologize, sir, but I only have 8,000 credits at the moment. However, I'd be happy to pay you the other 2,300 when I'm able to get the money. Here..." He handed the money to Harry, but was slapped away. 

"I don't want yer filthy currency!" he shouted. "You probably laced the stuff with highly deadly poison!" 

"No, sir, I'm serious about this... please, take the money." 

"NO! Now get the hell outta my store, Maverick, or yer gonna be swiss cheese!" 

"Fine... as you wish, sir." Vile stated. He placed the money on the counter and casually walked out the store as if everything was A-OK. 

Walking down the street, Vile could hear Harry yelling from inside the shop. "You damn Maverick! Don't you be comin' back here no more, or I swear to my pappy you won't get out alive!" 

Vile turned his head around and waved cheerily back. "And a nice day to you too, sir!" 

* * *

Glancing in the store window of Harry's Hardware, X failed to see any trace of Vile. Was he delusional? Was he seeing illusions caused by the stress of work? Maybe he shouldn't have been so hasty and jump to conclusions like this... 

And then, he saw it again. It was Vile, no doubt, with that same damn golden-orange armor. He was approaching the next street corner on the opposite end of the sidewalk, walking in a casual manner. 

_That little sunnuva biatch,_ X thought. _Strutting around like the little prick he is... thinks he's so big... I'll show him... with an ambush!_

Summoning all of the strength and courage he had, X made a mad dash towards Vile's sleek form, flailing his arms in complete madness and shouting a vulgar battle cry as loudly as possible. 

* * *

A piercing yell greeted Vile's ears from the other end of the sidewalk, prompting him to turn around. Strangely enough, a seemingly distressed individual clad in blue armor was headed straight for him, flailing his arms in complete madness and shouting a vulgar battle cry as loudly as possible. "CHEEEESEEEE MONKEEEEEYYYYYY!!!!" he yelled. 

"Well... now here's something you don't see on a daily basis," he muttered to himself. Soon enough, the crazed figure was dangerously close to Vile. In an attempt to ambush the golden-clad reploid, the figure had leapt up from the ground and was now about to mow Vile down. What was he to do...? 

Thinking extremely fast, Vile made a quick ducking dodge, causing the azure-clad figure to go sailing above him and come crashing to the ground below with a deafening _CLANG!_

Spinning around quickly, Vile got a good look of his attacker, who was sprawled helplessly on the rock-solid sidewalk, cowering and wincing like a little baby. Though the sight was quite disturbing for Vile to watch, he began to recognize the figure as one he had known in a previous life - one who he had formerly loathed with an extreme passion. But now was not the time to ponder such things - this individual was in pain, and needed assistance. 

Vile cleared his throat. "Excuse me? Sir? Do you need any help getting back to your feet?" 

In an instant, the blue figure brandished his arm, which was now converted into a large plasma cannon. He pointed it shakingly at Vile's head, much like Harry had done previously. 

"Don't you touch me, you bastard!" he shouted. "You as much as scrape my armor, and I swear to Papa Smurf, a nice big ball of plasma will find its way into your sorry ass!" 

Vile shook his head. "Now now, my friend. There's no need for profanities. There could be small children wandering these streets." He extended a helping hand to his attacker. "Now grab my hand, sir, and be on your way. There are things I must attend to. I have a rather busy schedule. I need to find Maverick Hunter Headquarters..." 

"SHUT IT! Stop playing 'Mr. Nice Guy with me! I don't buy it!" the figure shouted, batting away Vile's hand. "I can get myself up... don't you go anywhere or try anything..." He managed to push himself off the ground and rise to his feet, towering over a confused Vile. His arm cannon was still leveled at his helmeted mug. 

"Sir... I believe I do remember you..." Vile began. "You're MegaMan X, the famous Maverick Hunter who rightfully defeated me twice with the help of your comrade, Zero. It's actually very nice to see you." 

X barred his teeth in anger. "Oh, so now we're playing the Mr. Dumbass game now, aren't we?" He spat at the sidewalk. "Pathetic little trick you're trying to play on me, Vile. C'mon, I'm taking you back to the Hunter HQ. I'll let Dr. Cain deal with you. I've had a rather rough day..." 

Vile nodded. "As you wish, sir. Please escort me to the HQ. I believe I caused the highest amount of damage there, and I've been waiting to compensate for that damage, both physically and emotionally..." 

"Blah blah blah. Whatever, you goddamn psycho..." X interrupted, nudging Vile along with his plasma cannon. "Let's give the Mr. Happy comments a small nap until we get back to the HQ. I think I need to take my pills..." 

* * *

"Well slap my ass and call me Suzanna..." Zero stated with distinct awe. 

"I TOLDJA. Toldja toldja toldja," X repeated childishly. Standing before him was the evil, psychotic Maverick known infamously as Vile. He was clad in brilliantly luminous gold, with orange-and-blackish trimmings covering the rest of his body. His figure, however, remained totally the same, with his helmet and slender, short body remaining intact. It was certainly an awkward sight. 

Zero was startled to see that Vile had already approached him and had extended an arm of greeting. "Hello, sir. You must be Zero," he said in the most polite voice possible. "It's a pleasure to see you again, and I find this to be the perfect opprotunity to extend my deepest apologizes to you. Some of the distress I've caused you in the past have been rather harsh - so harsh, in fact, that I've actually forced you to sacrifice your life to save your friend. I'm extremely sorry, and I promise you that I'll try my hardest to make things up to you. It's my sworn duty, sir." 

The Crimson Hunter didn't speak, or shake the Maverick's hand; he was completely dumbfounded from the words that were just spoken. 

"Hey, X..." he began warily, "what exactly happened to this fellah?" 

X shrugged his shoulders. "No friggin' idea. At first I thought he was just acting this way to sneak into the HQ and play spy games with us, but it just doesn't seem like it. He had a perfect opprotunity to skin me alive back on the streets, and he didn't take it. It's really not like him at all." 

Zero examined Vile and shook his head. "No, no, no... this is all out of place. How could someone revive him like this? Were they crazy, or what?" 

"I really don't know," X chimed in again. "I would usually be quick to tack the whole thing on Sigma, but it just doesn't seem feasible..." 

Zero shrugged. "Well... I guess the best thing to do right now is to have Dr. Cain get a good look at him first. Let's head down to his office. And Vile-" he began, turning towards the gold-clad reploid, "don't you dare..." 

"...go anywhere or try anything," Vile finished for him. "I know the procedure, sir. And by the way, I'd prefer it if you didn't refer to me as 'Vile'. That's my former name, and will never be used again. I have already chosen a new name for myself." 

X nodded. "N'kay. And what would _that_ be?" 

Vile smiled. "Sunshine." 


	12. A Shattered Spirit

**Chapter 12: A Shattered Spirit**

* * *

"Master? Master Sigma? Are you in there, sir?" 

The silverish metallic knuckles of X-Hunter Agile tapped lightly on the intricately carved wooden doors of Sigma's chambers. The Maverick leader, having been humiliated from the tragedy that occured with Vile's anticipated reincarnation, had chosen to keep himself confined indefinitely behind that majesticly designed gateway so to spare him the embarrassment of facing his comrades and opponents alike. 

"Be gone, foolish jester!" the hairless tyrant shouted. "Leave me to my infinite prison! There is no dignity left in me now. I am but a shallow shell of a machine!" He erupted into a sea of totally uncharacteristic sobbing. 

Agile was getting quite frustrated; he was in no mood for a mindless squabble with his commanding officer. 

"Master, this is ridiculous!" he yelled in rage. "I'm not going to allow you to be confined in that god-forsaken office of yours for the rest of your days! Something must be done, sir! If we all just sit around on our arses and don't do smack about Vile's... er, 'exodus'... then we'll surely be trampled upon like fleas!" 

"NO DICE, you insensitive nitwit!" Sigma shouted between sobs. "You don't understand the kind of PAIN and SUFFERING I'm going through! NOBODY does! The only person that understands me is... Mr. Cuddles!" 

Agile scratched his head. "Err.... Mr. Cuddles, sir?" 

In an instant, the sound of an object being thrown came whizzing towards the door, hitting the wooden gateway with a silent thud. Peering through the small breach between the two doors, Agile could see the outline of a light-blue hued stuffed bear doll, with a little bowtie and a T-shirt with the word "Cuddles!" imprinted on it. It was quite awkward. 

"LOOK at him!" shouted Sigma once again. "See him? That's Mr. Cuddles! Mr. Cuddles knows my pain! Mr. Cuddles consoles me and tells me that everything's going to be alright, as long as we stay in here together!" 

His voice soon changed to a high-pitched sobbing yell. "MR. CUDDLES IS THE ONLY ONE WHO TRULY UNDERSTANDS MY NEEDS, AND SHOWS ME PROPER RESPECT, UNLIKE YOU AND YOUR SOULLESS BAND OF ASS-PICKING NEANDERTHALS!!!" 

Agile shook his head in disgust. "Master... what happened to you, sir? You were once a glorious and fearless leader, but now..." 

"NOW I'VE SEEN THE TRUTH, FAIRY-BOY!" Sigma yelled again. "There's nothing left for me in the outside world anymore! It's OVER! FINITO, palzy! Now leave me and Mr. Cuddles alone! Go drink some milk containing human feces, panzy pants!" 

The violet-hued warrior buried his face in his hands. Agile knew that further reasoning with his superior would be nothing more than an enormous waste of time and energy. 

"Why... why the hell does this always _happen_ to me?" he muttered to himself. From behind him, a calm voice met his ears. 

"Uhh... sir? Is this a bad time?" 

Glancing back, Agile saw Darrick, the rookie Maverick Colonel clad in dark-blue armor. His normally straight face now wore a look of extreme bewilderance from what he had heard of the conversation between Agile and Sigma. 

The X-Hunter smiled nervously at the rouge. "No, of course not! Everything is fine and dandy like sour candy... no, nothing wrong..." He spread his arms around the full length of the entrance, as if he were blocking it out. The same smile remained tacked onto his face. 

Darrick tilted his head. "Err... are you certain of that, sir? Because just a minute ago, I heard a great deal of shouting and screaming, followed by a string of cursing and insults. It filled the entire hallway." 

Agile, looking as tense as ever, kept continuously glancing back and forth from the small breach in the door to Darrick and back againd. 

"No, no... seriously, that noise was probably just a bunch of hooligans causing trouble... happens all the time... there's no problem at all, really... silly to worry about such things..." he mumbled shakily, his entire body tensing up. 

Suddenly, a faint yell rose from behind him. "Rodeo clown!" it shouted. 

Darrick's eyes darted behind Agile's slender figure. "What was _that?_" 

Eyes widened with nervous fear, the X-hunter attempted to fully block out any sound by stretching his body as vertically as possible, keeping his arms horizontally outstretched. "That.. that was a pigeon," he muttered shakily. 

Darrick still looked puzzled. "A pigeon?" he said with doubt in his voice. "Why would there be pigeons around here? We're stationed in the middle of a humongous desert, far from the city." 

Agile chuckled. "Darrick, I've been housed in this fortress for quite a while, and I think I would know what likes to fly on in here and what doesn't..." 

The shouts began again, this time twice as loud as before. "Circus freak! Purple burrito! Crossdresser!" 

Darrick's eyes widened. "That's, uh... quite an interesting pigeon." 

The violet warrior thought hard of a believable alibi. "Err... it's in heat," he said sheepishly. 

"Riiight...." Darrick muttered, inching away slowly. 

A final yell came from behind the polished doors once again, this time louder and more vulgar than ever. "YOUR MOTHER WAS MICHEAL JACKSON!" 

This time Agile snapped - he spun around swiftly, and in blinding rage, started pounding furiously on the office doors. "DON'T - YOU - BE - TALKIN' - ABOUT - MAH - DAMN - FRIGGIN' - _MAMMA!_" he shouted one word at a time. 

Distressed and frightened by Agile's sudden outburst, Darrick feebly tried to calm his nerves. "Sir? Uh... sir?" he voiced under the monotonous pounding sounds. 

Halting himself to regain his composure and catch his breath, Agile slowly turned around to face Darrick once again, lowering his arms fully and panting consistently. "WHAT?!" he exclaimed. 

"Sir... you don't have a mother," he stated calmly. 

Now Agile felt rather silly. He gave an foolish smile and began to chortle through his nose. "Yes, well... I apologize for that little mishap, Darrick. I seem to get carried away at times, and I guess I really didn't think things through. Maybe I've been fighting those damned humans too much for my own well being..." 

"Sir..." Darrick began again. "Would that happen to be Sigma shouting like a mental patient back there?" 

Agile gave a deep sigh and directed his gaze to the carpeted floor below him. "Yes... I'm afraid so," he said, his voiced filled with utter depression. "After our little mishap with Vile, it almost seems as if our leader's spirit has been crushed into tiny little bits. He's lost all hope for us, I'm afraid." He wearily shook his head. "It's saddening to watch, really. We were certainly destined for greatness, and I believe that it may have partially been my fault. I should've done a better job at supervising the mechanics... but I'm just too damned lazy..." 

Darrick glanced at the door. "So... this means Sigma's out for good? Then what are we supposed to do about the whole Vile fiasco? Sit here and wait for Death to lower his scythe?" 

Agile sprung back upright, jubilance returning to his face. "Well... at first, I _did_ think that was the only possible thing we could do. But then, I began to think logically. I mean, after the brutal effects of the first Maverick War, we managed to pull together without Sigma's guidance, now, didn't we? I believe that we can formulate a plausible plan, all we need to do is pull together as a group... yes!" He snapped his fingers. "I've got it. Darrick, I'd like you to meet me in the cafeteria downstairs in... say... 15 minutes. I'm going to hold a small meeting with the other X-Hunters, and I'd like you to attend. Could you do that for me?" 

"Sure... what the hell. I've got nothing else on my schedule, anyway." 

"Great! I'll see you at 12:30, Darrick. And please hurry. You don't want your bologna to get moldy." 

The jubilant Agile sped back down the carpeted hallway, the sound of metal clanging escaping his boots. Before he could turn the corner, however, Darrick's soft-toned voice chimed in his ear. 

"Err... sir?" 

Agile stopped in his tracks. "What?" 

"Just one question... are they still serving that disgusting food from the school cafeteria we took control of?" 

The purple Maverick smiled. "Only after six, my friend. Hakuna Matata." 

* * *

Glacier Dragoon stared up at the small, wooden door of ex-general Wiedl's tiny basement office, with the words "EX-GENERAL WIEDL" shrouded in immense dust. He certainly needed to take a few deep breaths - he was not at all fond of Wiedl, and for very sensible reasons. Since his arrival to the ranks of the Maverick Hunters, the Maverick War veteran always managed to find some way of demeaning the azure dragon's fighting skills in some way, and always compared him to his more seasoned brother. Since those days, Glacier had been constantly trying to aviod the deranged Wiedl in any way he possibly could. 

But now, the Dragoon warrior was specifically sent down by Dr. Cain to bring him upstairs to meet the new Vile (I mean, Sunshine... whatever the hell he calls himself these days). It seemed to Glacier that Wiedl was becoming all too important since the third Maverick War, and he was especially worried that he would somehow rise to another powerful Hunter rank under Cain's condolences. 

_So much for ignoring,_ he thought before lightly knocking on the crappily-constructed door. 

The orange-hued behemoth of a machine answered the door by peeking his head out slightly, a mighty hand clasping the side of the wood. "Err... yes?" he sheepishly asked. 

The dragon nervously cleared his throat before speaking. "Wiedl? Uhh.. howdy. It's me, Glacier Dragoon..." 

"Oh, Glacier!" Wiedl exclaimed, taking the Dragoon by full surprise. "What brings you here, good buddy 'o mine? Come to bring some news from the outside world? Or did you come down here so I could share with ya some of my patented fighting techniques?" 

Glacier grimaced. "Well, _actually_..." 

"I knew it was for fighting techniques," Wiedl interrupted. "Can't catch up to your brother, eh? That's quite a shame. Magma Dragoon is a fantastic fighter, leads a great group of ground combat fighters... why can't you do something as great as that, Glacier?" 

"Wiedl, if you'd just let me get a word in for a second..." 

"I know why, Glacier, and I'm glad you came to me to find out why. You see, you're not FOCUSING enough, my boy! You're not training hard EVERY DAY, for about 5 hours each session. That's what your good brother does, my boy, and believe me, he's doing a great job. But hell, at the rate you're goin', you'll NEVER achieve what he's achieved..." 

"Wiedl..." 

"But even _he_ can't compare to X and Zero... now those are some damn good Hunters, if you ask me. The best of the entire facility... I doubt any other reploid or human in the entire universe could defeat them. I mean, when Sigma commanded this place, we all thought he was the big cheese of Reploidiland... and look what they did to that poor fellah. Now I KNOW you'll NEVER hold a candle to _them_..." 

"WIEDL!" 

Finally breaking out of his funk, the massive reploid opened his door fully to completely face Glacier. "Yes, Glacier... what is it you want to say? I hope it's important..." 

"Cain wants you," Glacier said, still gradually regaining his now shattered composure. "He wants to see you... upstairs. He needs to show you something, something extremely important. It's urgent." 

Wiedl made an awkward face. "If I hadn't known any better, I'd say it sounds like Cain is coming on to me." 

Glacier shook his head in frustration. "Riiight... whatever. The point is, Cain needs to show you... a Maverick. At least, we think he's a Maverick... but he seems too calmed..." 

Wiedl's eyes widened to about three inches. "A Maverick? Really? Any one in particular...?" 

Glacier nodded. "Yep. It just so happens to be Vile." 

The ex-general's eyes widened to about another eight inches, with his mouth now hanging agape. "VILE? That whacked-out Maverick with an extreme lust for blood? That psycho that almost MUTILATED X during the first Maverick War, and then was revived by Doppler to enact his revenge during the third...?" 

"That's the guy," Glacier responded. "There's something wrong, though. When he came back, he was acting really awkwardly, and went rambling on about peace and goodwill towards your fellow man, and how war should be obliterated for all eternity. We really can't tell exactly -" 

But Glacier could'nt finish, as the sweeping muscular inner arm of Wiedl came crashing into his tender metallic throat, thrusting upwards into a towering amount of stairs. He could hear the ecstatic behemoth yell "To Cain's office, HI-HO!", and after feeling his clawed feet being lifted from the padded ground, he could see himself entering nothing but a mixed blur of blue and blackness. 

* * *

Dynamo stroked a hand through his finely-combed grey hair, pushing a strand away from his face. His so-called "bed" really only consisted of a tattered and worn old mattress with a small towel acting as the "pillow". He wasn't quite happy with this turnout - the smell coming from the mattress was highly pungent and vile, as if a sumo wrestler had taken a dump on a flaming tire, and Dynamo figured that it had been somewhat mistreated by some other filthy Maverick in one of the previous wars. And, with a room as small as his, a horrible stench generally had the ability to quadruple its odor in mere seconds. 

The luminous afternoon sun shone through the venetian blinds that shaded the window beside his bed. The days had been growing increasingly warmer over the past few weeks, as spring had started not too long ago. Dynamo despised the hot air - being stranded in the middle of a stinking desert wasn't his idea of a fun time, as it naturally produced high doses of blazing sunlight. 

_Damn those idiots who're thinning out the o-zone layer,_ Dynamo pondered._ Maybe those moron environmentalists I butchered on the way over here were on to something..._

Angrily shutting the blinds, Dynamo went back to take a seat on his mattress. Reaching under the matted cushion, he pulled out three objects: a small journal, a pen, and a walkie-talkie type device. Putting the talkie aside for a moment and flipping his visor away from his eyes, he opened up to a fresh page in his beloved journal and began to write his thoughts: 

_April 12, 21XX _

It seems that things have gotten more interesting here than I predicted. That old general of Sigma's from the first and third Maverick Wars, "Vile", was finally revived last week. Awkwardly enough, the procedure got out of hand, and the warrior's revival was a complete upset. Rather than becoming the savage killing machine that the Mavericks had been hoping for, they were burdened with a pacifistic, do-gooder pro-Hunter hippie. Morons. Everything they do is a poison to their operation... why the Mavericks hire total hooligans off the streets of Terensce is beyond me. They're hardly even paid. Maybe _that's_ why they're so damn keen to slacking off. I never knew Sigma could be such a cheap bastard... 

Speaking of that bald brute, last I heard of him he was hibernating in his quarters eating his toenails in fright of Vile's return (oh yes, Vile escaped... I failed to mention that, didn't I?). Now, I need to weigh the pros and cons of this - pros, he's proving himself to really be a slow-witted and childish infidel, which will utterly destroy his perfectly steady ego and give me a good laugh (ha ha, I say!). Then we come to the cons... if he keeps that office door barricaded for too long, then I'll never get a chance to get in there and steal that information - even if I do find a way to get in, he'll find out what I'm doing immediately. And that really isn't peachy, since I need to find that info before that Boba Fett wannabe marches on back and annihilates this entire fortress. Though I'll be jumping for joy when that day comes around, if that information goes down with it, then I'm screwed. All I need is some kind of distraction... 

Well... on another note, I can't friggin' stand it here anymore. Every morning, I'm forced to undergo probably the cheapest and easiest "rookie" training that a 94-year-old parapalegic could complete in a heartbeat. Makes me chuckle that my fellow trainees are struggling so much with it. That fruity one, Rosered, actually tripped into one of those spikes metal pits and ended up with a huge spike lodged into his rear end. I laughed out loud, even if that Agile fellah gave me a dirty look. It was completely worth it, though. 

Speaking of my trainees, they're annoying the bloody hell out of me, and everyday I pine to take a well-charged electric shot at their tender bellies (actually, I fried them like geese right before the first time I searched for the file, but that was only because Sigma was occupied with his little plastic warrior). They're complete morons, simply put, and reek of complete immaturity. And, to top things off, they smell like dog turd. Stingrays, bats, and freakish plant thingies don't mix. 

Mercutio hasn't contacted me yet, damn his blackened human soul. I'm keeping the line open on my walkie-talkie, but I still haven't even gotten as much as a belch from him. It's a pity, really - this would be a perfect time for him to contact me, since everyone in this hellish fortress is to busy whining about Vile's exodus to care what anyone else is doing. And now that my fellow trainees have left their rooms (which neighbor mine, sadly), I can get this done privately and tell him everything that's been going on in the past few weeks. I know he'll be upset that my escape out of this gaping hellhole will take a little longer than expected, but I'm sure he'll be happy to hear of the state Sigma is in. Lord knows that he isn't fond of him the least bit. Humans tend to get pissed off easily, I guess. 

If anything occurs, expect to hear from me again tomorrow, or even later today. Life must suck being a helpless inanimate object, eh? 

--Dynamo 

With that done, Dynamo closed the timeless pages of his worn journal and set it aside, placing the pen next to it. The crimson-visored mercenary enjoyed using his journal to express his feelings, and he felt it was the perfect thing to write in whenever something was nipping at his ass. Lately, Dynamo had been alone, and he'd had plenty of time to think peacefully without distraction. 

That's why he was surprised to hear someone else's voice in the room. 

"Dynamo?" the voice queried. It was extremely low toned, with a hint of a British accent. It sounded quite familiar. "Dynamo, this is Mercutio. Can you hear me?" 

As if he had catlike senses, Dynamo instantly reached for the talkie resting beside him and responded. "Yes, sir. I'm here." 

"Excellent, Dynamo. Good to hear your voice again," The man merrily stated. 

"Likewise, sir." 

"Now then..." the man began, clearing his throat. "I've been hearing various stories coming out of Sigma's fortress. Something about some "Vile" character breaking on out of there and starting some sort of unholy carnage on the human race. Could you clear this up for me, Dynamo?" 

Dynamo let out a sadistic chuckle. "You might want to hire different people to scout for you, 'cutio my boy. Vile was resurrected, indeed, but apparently he became some sort of pacifist and stormed out of here, vowing to put an end to the Mavericks. I wasn't present to see it myself, unfortunately, but after the incident things have begun to go pretty crazy over here. Everyone's scared as hell of Vile coming back, even Sigma. He barricaded the door to his office and now he's in there blubbering like a baby. You can hear him from here, actually." 

Mercutio chuckled with devilish delight. "I wish I was there to see _that_." He cleared his throat once again, sterness re-entering his voice. "Now down to some more serious business. You managed to retrieve Doppler's old files, didn't you?" 

Dynamo gulped. This would be rough. 

"Err... well, you see..." he spewed out. "Um.. well.. funny story, really... um, I kinda... err..." 

"Dynamo..." Mercutio began once again, a bit of anger entering his voice. "Answer my question. Did you or did you not get that wretched file out of Sigma's office before it was barricaded?" 

The greyed reploid sighed. "No, sir.. I ran into some trouble while searching for it. Some other recruits were following me, and I searched exactly where you instructed me to search and found absolutely nothing, sir." 

His commander grunted. "That's dissapointing, Dynamo. You know perfectly well that you haven't been living up to your standards... you could've easily found that file in a matter of seconds if you had just searched a little more. Don't tell me you're becoming some kind of an irresponsible fool..." 

"I'm _not_ a fool, Mercutio," Dynamo snapped. 

"I don't care _what_ the hell you are, Dynamo," he snapped right back. "You need to learn to follow orders. I instructed you to bring me that file no later than a week after your arrival there. From now on, I want you to ignore ALL distractions until that file is found and brought back to me, and I want you to do so in no more than a week. And I'll tell you this right now - if that fortress crumbles to the musty desert ground with that file still there, your entire future in this organization is going down with it, I can guarantee that. Remember, your allegance is with US, and ONLY us. Do you understand...?" 

Dynamo let out another frustrated sigh. "Ugh... yes, sir." 

Mercutio's voice calmed. "Good. I'm glad we have an understanding. I'll contact you in precisely a week or so, and I want the file to be found by then. I'm ending this transmission now. Good day to you, Dynamo, and for the love of Pete try to remain alive and well. We don't want to lose our most talented mercenary." 

Mercutio's words were instantly followed by a mess of screechingly noisy static, which brought extreme unpleasantness to Dynamo's "virgin" ears. Switching off the infernal communicator and placing it aside, he laid back on his tiny mattress and closed his eyes, with his boss's words still echoing endlessly in his mind. 

_"Your allegance is with US, and ONLY us."_

_Allegance..._


	13. Conspiracy of One

**Chapter 13: Conspiracy of One**

* * *

"Well, this clinches it. The old man's finally gone nutso." 

Zero peered warily through the musty glass viewing window before him, which covered nearly the entire wall, barely concealing his feet. The window was used to get an eagle-eye view of the MHHQ's interrogation and questioning room, used previously in many cases to hold conferences with former Mavericks or emotionally disturbed Hunters, be they human or reploid. The Crimson Warrior had often used the window to entertain himself by watching a random psychotic Hunter ruthlessly tearing the room apart in fury, with Dr. Cain attempting to keep the nutcase under control. As these problems became more and more serious over the years, Cain decided to accompany himself with some bodyguards in the room at all times, to ensure that no major conflicts would arise with the patient while making sure that Cain would not be harmed in any way. 

But in this case, however, Cain decided to do without them. 

"Well, what do ya expect to happen?" X said nonchalantly from Zero's right side. "It's not like this is anything surprising, really. Cain's _always_ been like this. Some sort of 'forgive and forget' policy, I guess. Although, in this case, I have to admit..." He squinted his greenish eyes down at the two figures seated at a table in the middle of the room; one the renowned Dr. Cain, and the other the former bloodthirsty Maverick known infamously as Vile, now apparantly reformed from his evil deeds and renamed 'Sunshine'. "This is really crossing the line. I mean, not only did this psycho cost us the lives of half our men during the first Maverick War, but he came inches away from sauteéing me on the spot. Oh yeah... he caused you to die, too." 

"Yeah... to save your sorry blue ass, as I recall," Zero remarked. "Anyway, I personally figure that the doc somehow gained an extremely high amount of courage overnight, got loused up as usual, or he's having another one of his infamous 'senior moments', if you catch my drift. The old man seems to be gettin' more senile by the minute. Or maybe he's just been tipping the shot glasses a bit much during the past week. It _really_ wouldn't come as a shock to me." 

X shrugged. "Nonetheless, we should be keeping a close eye on him. You know that I've asked Cain numerous times if he wanted to have Jenn run a body scan on Vile, or have some of the other technicians check him out, or maybe have him kept isolated for a designated period of time so that the doctor can speak with him without the constant fear of being killed the next second. But he kept on declining and declining and declining, insisting that he talk to him in private, unattended... I just don't understand it..." 

"Like I said... ye old bastard is senile, or a drunkard..." Zero repeated. 

"But it's _more_ than that," X continued. "I don't think anyone here trusts Vile the slightest bit, especially Cain - he _built_ the guy, for chrissake, and he knows that he was extremely unstable and needed to be unplugged and locked away for good. Cain took a lot of risks with him back before the first Maverick Rebellion. So why, out of all people in this building, would _he_ choose to walk in there _without protection_ to speak privately with him? I've never seen Cain trust somebody this much before, considering the horrible rep Vile has. And I've known the doc my entire life." 

Zero rolled his eyes. "Oh, is that so, X? It's pretty damned interesting that you never have, since I recall some very distinct cases in which Cain chose to follow through with his little 'trust policy', and things turned out to be pretty sour in the long run." He made a glance over to Wiedl, who was occupying himself with a game of solitaire in the corner of the room. He seemed completely oblivious to what X and Zero were discussing. 

"Damn it all!" the orange-armored reploid spurted out, throwing his cards across the room and causing them to all scatter about in the air. "Lost again! I was THIS CLOSE to getting an eight of hearts, but NOOO... the deck keeps on shittin' out diamonds and clubs!" He pounded the wall with a clenched fist, making a large dent in its steel surface. "THE GAME IS FLAWED!" 

Glacier Dragoon, sitting next to him and obviously not enjoying it, shook his head in pity. "I keep telling you, Wiedl, you can't play a decent game of solitaire with a deck of only 48 cards. Here," He handed him a small deck of new cards, with the MHHQ insignia printed on them. "Take these. I got them from downstairs. Brand new, and not lined with filth like yours." 

"Bah!" Wiedl scoffed and pushed the cards away, as if the offer were an insult to his honor. "I don't need any fancy-pants cards. My cards are what make me _me_! I'm never relinquishing my cards. EVER. Don't you understand what I'm telling ya, Dragoon?" 

"Alright, Wiedl, _fine_!" Glacier snapped defensively, placing his new cards to his side. "Forget about the damned cards. Like I give a flyin' fatoot if you send yourself to Hell's Gate. But I'll tell you this right now - sooner or later, you're gonna _really_ need to use a REAL deck of cards. I never realized you could play solitaire with an Uno deck from the 1980's." 

Wiedl winced. "But I enjoy the vast array of pretty colors..." 

"Ugh... whatever," Glacier said frustratingly. He directed his gaze back to the floor; it was much more pleasing to watch than a giant oaf fumbling with children's playthings. 

Zero turned back to face the viewing glass. "Back to what you said, X... I'm not exactly sure what to make of Cain's reaction to Vile's behavior either, but there's one thing I know for sure... if Vile actually _knew_ that he was acting this way, he probably would've commited suicide a while ago. At least, that's what _I_ would've done." 

X didn't respond. Instead, he simply kept his eyes glued to Cain and Vile's conference, a bit of worry in his eyes. 

"I think we should make the best of this, X," Zero started again. "This could be some great entertainment. I mean, it's not exactly everyday that you get to sit back and watch a senile old man have some 'quiet time' with a demented Maverick. Let the fun begin, I say!" 

* * *

The old, wrinkled hands of Dr. James Cain fumbled through the disorganized pile of papers he laid out before him. He adjusted a pair of rounded spectacles until they remained completely stationary on his small nose. 

"Alright, let's begin..." he said to the orange Maverick sitting on the opposite end of the table. "I'm going to ask you a few simple questions, and I'd like you to answer them for me to the best of your ability. Can you do that for me, Vile?" 

"Yes, doctor," the reploid calmly responded. 

"Alright then..." the doctor began. "First of all, I've heard that you've undergone some very serious... um, _changes_... since our last encounter with you. One of those has been a change in your name. Out of curiosity, what would that new name be...?" 

Vile nodded. "My new name is Sunshine." 

There was an awkward pause. Cain lifted his eyebrows in a bit of disbelief and concern. "Err... Sunshine..." he repeated. "That's very interesting, indeed... tell me, where would the inspiration for this name come from?" 

The reploid's red eye glowed in intrest. "Well, after my revival, I finally realized all of the horrific and violent acts that I've been known to have commited in my previous lives. I decided then and there to change my ways for the better, take full responsibility for my previous actions, and attempt to redeem myself and to make up for my past deeds. I also realize that my life was quite dismal and saddening during my role as a Maverick. Therefore, I promised myself that my role as a hateful reploid would be over, and that my gloriously new form would be as beautiful as a ray of sunshine. Hence my new name." 

"I see..." Cain replied. "Well, I think everyone here is more comfortable in calling you 'Vile', as you have been infamously known as a wretched type of being in the past. Would you be alright with us calling you that name rather than your new one, just to prevent any confusion as to your identity?" 

He shrugged. "I guess that would be alright, sir, but only if it's for the sake of understanding. I don't want to be presented as the Maverick I formerly was." 

The doctor smiled. "Don't worry about it, I'll make sure you won't be. Now, for my next question... this redemption you planned... how exactly did you intend to carry this out?" 

Vile took a moment of thought. "Well, I first devised a plan to carry things out systematically," he said. "After making my way back to the city, I thought it might be easiest to write down all of my past blunderings and make up for them. I made quite a long list of victims, actually... it would've taken quite a while to make up for all of them." 

Cain was intrigued. "May I see this list of yours?" 

"Certainly," he responded. He reached down and pulled up a small writing pad, with a weakened binding and paper stained with grease. Upon examining the notebook, Cain discovered that the pages filled up with indecipherable jargon, so small that it could barely be read even if it were magnified by a hundred times. 

"Erm... quite interesting, indeed..." Cain said, wiping the excess sweat off of his glasses and handing the book back to Vile. "Just a tad hard to understand." 

The reploid smirked. "I'm not exactly a penmanship guru, sir," 

Yes, well... moving on to some more in-depth questions. You told me before that you decided to change your name _after_ your revival. So I'm guessing this was a conscious decision, rather than you somehow being reprogrammed this way? Or am I not listening clearly enough?" 

"No, you're right," Vile assured. "From what I can still remember, I made the decision to be the way I am, but I believe that maybe my reviver made a glitch in my programming, or was trying to do away with my emotions... I... I'm having trouble thinking back to that time. I apologize..." 

"Not a problem, Vile. Just relax," Cain consoled, raising an assuring hand. "I know some of these questions may be difficult for you to answer, and I'm not going to put any pressure on you." He cleared his throat. "Now then, Vile... could you tell me a bit about your latest revival... if you can remember anything about it... more importantly, who was responsible for it?" 

"Urgh..." Vile spat out, clutching his helmet with both hands. "No... I can't... quite... recall..." he mumbled incoherently. "The past few days have been very awkward... but I do remember that the person responsible for my revival was someone evil... I recognized him when I first saw him... but now, for some reason... it's extremely hard to think back to then. It's... it's almost like it never even _happened_... but there was something very distinct about my revival. I don't really believe that my recovery was meant for good purposes, I can remember that distinctly." 

"Ahh, I see..." Cain said with sudden intrest. "So your conversion may have either been a conscious decision, or just a complete blunder on your former advocate's part." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Of course..." he mumbled, scribbling down some notes in his folder. "Yes, yes... things are starting to become a bit clearer now. Vile, I personally believe that you may have experienced something of a memory loss due to your rebuilding, as it seems that you can barely remember any truly important details... it arouses suspicion, frankly." 

Vile gave a puzzled look. "Excuse me...?" 

"Sorry if that sounded a little on the harsh side... but many would come to the conclusion that this little "memory loss" dilemma is an elaborate setup for some sceme carefully planned out by you and the Mavericks, involving fooling us and then taking us down when our backs are turned. No offense or anything..." 

"None taken, sir," Vile calmly responded. "I understand that the kind of damage I've caused in the past is immesurable. It's perfectly normal to you to be a little paranoid of me - I've put you in a bit of an awkward situation, I guess." 

Cain nodded. "Don't worry about it... now Vile, before we end this session, I'd like to ask you one more question. It'll require a bit of memory, but I'm going to give it a shot. Are you alright with that?" 

"Yes, sir," Vile replied, eagerly nodding his head in agreement. 

"Alright, then... Vile, from the best of your ability, I'd like you to try to go back to the time before you were revived... when you still practiced an evil nature, and when you fought against X and Zero. Do you remember anything, as in emotional anguish, physical pain or struggle, or anything of the sort? Just out of curiosity..." 

He nodded. "Well, yes.... It's a little bit hazy, so I'm not going to be able to give you any real detail... but I remember myself being raised high above the ground, on something of a support mech-style robot. X and Zero... I remember them being there. They seemed extremely surprised to see me there... Doppler had given me life, I believe... under the acts of some unspoken evil force. We engaged in battle, and I recall my mount crumbling before my feet and becoming nothing but burnt, useless scrap metal. That's when I began fighting viciously... I still recall the feelings I felt that day - anger, unyielding hatred, lust for the blood of my attackers... and then, as soon as it started, I fell. I was dead... and I believed myself to be dead for good. Then... I... I... errgh...." 

Instantly, Vile clutched his helmet once again, his entire head shaking violently. It seemed that something about those memories had infected the helpless Maverick's mind, and the feelings were seeping back. His brain was slowly, ever so slowly giving in to the feeding of hate that was being fed to it from that horrible memory... a type of unimaginable hatred, one that could cause someone to commit deeds worse than anyone on earth could possibly imagine... 

Slowly, the ex-Maverick rose to his feet, still clutching his metallic skull in total agony. His vision became a total blur; the desk, the man sitting across from him, the entire room seemed to be drifting far away from him at that very moment. The memory was winning him over, and he lost all control of himself before stumbling into complete darkness... and the dark and dismal scene replayed in his infected mind... 

* * *

"X..." 

There was blood at his side; his vision was extremely blurry, but he could still partially see the sickening, blackened fluid from the dark corner of his eye. The earth almost seemed to be tipping on its unyielding axis, causing the entire world to swirl into a sea of radical and completely dizzying array of colors. He could barely feel any other part of his body; they had gone entirely numb, and he figured that it was caused by some error in his system. But he knew truly what was happening to him. 

He hardly had any strength left in him; simply lifting a single finger on one of his scorched hands was like a type of merciless bloody torment from the very bowels of Hell. Using all of the latent energy left within his shattered corpse, the broken Maverick managed to lift his helmeted head high to take a final glance at his fatal wound. He only saw it for a moment, but he could've almost memorized completely; a deep, circular blow, covering almost his entire chest area. He felt it as it dripped with immense, horribly morbid reploid blood. He was disgusted... why, why did this have to happen...? What did he do wrong...? 

_This is it, I guess..._ he thought. _I'm going to die... again..._

He could hardly even register exactly what events had occured - as far as his hazy memory could take him, just a few minutes ago he had been in the middle of an intese and brutal battle against the one being who he had been waiting to fight for years - MegaMan X himself. After being brought back to life by one of Sigma's new aids, Dr. Doppler, Vile had assisted the doctor in creating the new ultimate ride armor, the Goliath MK2. He believed that nothing could possibly get the best of a machine such as this - unfortunately, the Hunters had chosed to prove him wrong, with both X and Zero barging in on his fun and tearing up his beloved mech of destruction. Now, as he could see, it lay in a smoldering heap beside him, devoid of all life, completely and permanently out of commision. It was saddening to see it lay there - he really believed that the two Hunters would be unable to get past him in this instance. And then, after Vile had entered into a sort of berserker state, he lunged venomously at X, driven insane by hatred... and out of the blue, the azure reploid managed to drive a plasma beam into his nubile stomach... and then he had finally fallen. 

X and Zero... the dynamic duo. Vile was not fond of Zero's power at all; the crimson Hunter was far too crafty in battle for his own good, and had a kind of unwavering bravery that could not be diminished in any way. If needed, the Hunter was even willing to relinquish his own life for the sake of his comrades; though it was hard for Vile to distinguish if that quality should be considered commendable or just a weakness. Yes... Zero was certainly not a Maverick anymore, and it was hard to really say that he would ever become one in the future. 

But Zero in particular wasn't the one he was mostly concerned about; no, he was very interested in the power of his blue-armored partner. Something about him was wrong, very wrong indeed. Though Zero was an all-around powerful combatant and exteremely skilled in combat, X was the one who's ability truly shone through. He remembered the first time he had entered in battle with X without the aid of his beloved mech... the blue Hunter was completely restrained from the force of his shoulder cannon beam, but somehow, he had managed to break free from the restraint and instantly regenerate all of his lost energy. Though it wasn't quite apparent at the time, it soon came to Vile that maybe X's power was completely indefinite; that it couldn't be measured by any kind of calculator, ruler, or other measuring tool. This may have clinched it, since X had already grown increasingly stronger over the years, and had managed to fell him once again, despite all of the arrogant Maverick's tireless efforts. Yes... his power could even be _limitless_.... 

That's when it struck him; finally, the definite reason as to why he had been defeated before and again. In man-to-man combat, in was almsot improbable that X could be defeated, for some reason. It all had made sense - the defeating of 24 fully-armed experienced Maverick militants, his own surprising defeat (caused by the energy regained by X), and more importantly, the falling of the great Maverick leader Sigma, _twice_ in a row. He didn't doubt that, sooner or later, Sigma would fall to the power of X once again, and predictably moreso afterwards. And, with the practically-equally powerful Zero right beside him in battle, they were completely unstoppable. 

Oh, what a fool he had been, to think he could decieve his mind into trying to destroy the most powerful reploids to walk the Earth! X had finally evolved from that timid young amateur he had come close to killing on that dismal highway years ago... he was now an exprerienced mercenary, and with that kind of amazing ability and leadership, he was capable of claiming victory in almost any battle he so wished. And Zero... Zero had also evolved greatly as well, and had been able to focus the amazing Maverick power he had possesed in the past and used it in favor of the pro-human side. Vile now knew that, physically, he would never be able to rise up to both X and Zero's level; it was impossible, and any attempts he had made in the past were purely in vain. 

But the hateful Maverick knew very well that his arch nemesis was certainly not perfect - oh no, far from it. Though X's physical ability was innumerous and unbelievably powerful beyond all means, he had one outstantding weakness: his _emotion_. Though Zero was quite emotionally balanced and rarely seemed timid or frightened, X was a different story; his life had not been the easiest one, as he had been forced into fighting and killing his fellow reploids, and causing a great deal of destruction - things he hated most out of anything. He also had sure doubts about the reason of his existence, and if he was truly destined to battle his own. Yes... Vile would not die without exploiting this weakness. He never would accept being defeated mentally, no matter how powerful and persistent his opponent may be. Now all he needed to do was leave X with a message... a message that would haunt him for the rest of his living days, even if Vile never came back for billions of years. It was his one last chance at glory, at dignity. He wouldn't meet his demise as a shattered, helpless weakling. 

The cold and deadly scythe of the Reaper was closing in on him rapidly; he needed to get this done, and he needed to do so as soon as possible. He managed to open his weighted eyelids to gain visage of the blue demon who had broken him, who had finally finished him off for good. The Hunter stood there, blankly staring at his shattered corpse... it was almost like he was mocking him, or that he took pleasure in watching him meet his final curtain. The sight brewed that same extreme hatred within Vile once again, the one he had felt ever since he first laid eyes on him. Mustering up all of the energy inside him, he told X the most haunting and terrible words he would ever hear: 

"Don't think this is the end, X!... I will haunt you... _until the day you die_..." 

* * *

"Vile? _Vile?_ Are you alright there, son?" 

He opened his eyes once again. A wave of blindingly bright colors flashed before his eyes, and finally, he awoke from what seemed like a 100 year rest. The world came back to him, and he could now see that he was back in the Maverick Hunter HQ's interrogation room. Glancing around him, he could see that he was sprawled against the wall in the back of the room, his legs laying together against the soft rug on the floor's surface. 

Beside him was undoubtedly Dr. Cain, with a look of extreme worry on his wrinkled face. All around the two of them was a large group of medical assistants, technicians, Hunters, and many others. Apparently, his little descent in to madness had gained quite a bit of attention around the building. He glanced over to Cain at his side. 

"What..." he mumbled softly. "What... happened to me?" 

Cain made a stern expression. "Honestly... we really don't quite know, Vile. After you had started explaining to me about what you remembered of your previous death, you seemed to have a horrible pain entering your brain, causing you to stumble blindly backwards into the wall and eventually collapse, completely unconscious. You've been asleep for about ten minutes, my friend... I was a little worried for a moment there. You could've been dying somehow." 

Vile turned his head away from the doctor. "So... that's what happened..." he mumbled again. "I'm sorry for this, doctor... but there was something about that memory... it seemed to infect my brain, and it was almost like it was controlling me... and then I visioned the entire scene over again in my daze. It was a horrible feeling... like I was being tortured by Satan himself, almost. My entire body tensed up to the breaking point, my head swelled beyond all means, my legs shook up and became extremely weak and feeble... it was terrible... I'm sorry, doctor, I'm sorry..." 

"Calm down, Vile," Cain assured, placing a hand on the Maverick's golden shoulder. "It's not your fault... I should have assumed that asking a question as sensitive as that could have a rather large risk of catastrophy. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking." He handed him a small bottle of a crimson-hued liquid; it looked like it was some kind of elixir. "Here... drink this," he offered. "It'll make you feel much better after a few minutes. I must warn you, though... the stuff tastes a bit bitter." 

Vile took the liquid and took a small chug. Cain was right - the liquid was pretty bitter tasting, and it caused the golden reploid to pulsate his head in a bit of disgust. But he managed to swallow the entire bottle without any complaint, and in the next few minutes he finally had enough energy to rise back to his feet. 

"There... that's good, Vile," Cain consoled, helping Vile back up with an extended hand. "I understand that you may be a little weak in the knees after that rather nasty spill... but no need to worry, my friend. Here... I'll escort you to the medical ward. We're going to run a few simple tests on you, and soon enough, you'll be as good as new. And then afterwards, we're going to run a few more tests to measure your physical abilities. Is all of that okay with you, Vile?" 

The weak reploid gave a small nod of agreement. 

"Good to see that, my boy," Cain responded eagerly. He wrapped an arm around Vile's shoulders, and very slowly he led him towards the door across the room. Before he could, however, voices of protest could be heard from all over the room. 

"What the hell are you doin', doc?" cried one stray human Hunter. 

"Dude, you're frickin' crazy!" another one yelled. 

"He's gonna butcher you!" chimed in a tinny voice. 

"My legs hurt!" yelled one in the far corner. 

Cain was able to ignore all of these jeers and hollers of anger; that is, until X finally approached him, looking extremely concerned. 

"Doc!" he exclaimed. "Please... are you _sure_ it's very safe to be taking him into the ward by yourself? Here, let Zero and I take 'em in, just in case he tries to put up a fight... you never know what could happen, y'know..." 

Before X could finish his statement, Cain raised a hand of assurance. "Don't you be worrying about my physical state, X. Vile will not be causing any kind of trouble, I can promise you that. I'll be ableto handle him perfectly easily on my own..." 

"But doc, you aren't serious..." 

"Please," Cain said in a stern tone. "Trust me when I say this, X my boy. I'll be _fine_, comprende? Now what I want you to do is go on and meet back up with Zero, Glacier, and the others. Vile's going to be in the medical ward with Jenn and Mick for a little while. After he's completely recovered and examined, I'll be able to give you a full report on his mental and physical state. But for now, all he needs to do is rest. The past few days have probably been pretty damned rough on him, no doubt. Arrivederci." 

And with that, Cain and a disgruntled Vile left the small room, leaving X and a group of random Hunters very much confused. 


	14. Meeting of the Evils

**Chapter 14: Meeting of the Evils**

* * *

"I think," said the bulky Violen, taking a sip of his cola, "that the sun revolves around the moon." 

Serges didn't say a word. He chose to just remain silent and pretend he was listening. He took a small bite out of his stale grilled cheese sandwich before pressing his cheek back onto his open palm. 

"I mean, honestly... we all know those elderly human astrologists and meteoroligists were just a bunch of senile crackpots," the metallic behemoth continued. "There's no real proof that the sun _doesn't_ revolve around the moon. Telescopes are just overpriced pieces of garbage, we all know that..." 

_How, in God's name, can he continue to senselessly ramble on like this and not bore his poor soul to death?_ Serges thought. _What's in that cola of his? Paint thinner...?_

"Then we get to the position of Venus," Violen continued. "Y'see, I don't understand why those idiot scientists of the past never thought of conjouring up a way to destroy that deathtrap of a planet. I mean, _really_... it just gets in the way of the sun's mystical orbit around the glorious moon. A nuisance." 

_Just be patient,_ Serges griped mentally, feeling his sanity slowly slipping away from him. _Agile and Darrick will be here any minute... just calm yourself. Sing a happy song in your head, Serges... yes, just drown out the droning... maybe he'll just get bored with himself... maybe even decide to stop..._

But Violen didn't stop - rather, his mindless rambling just continued doublestrength. "That's the problem, Serges. It's ALL Venus's fault that we're in this rut of a place! I mean, think about it - Venus has always been pissy with the Earth, what with it being the only planet to give birth to living creatures and be able to maintain their natural balance for billions of years. So, you see, _that's_ the reason why humans are nestled in on this planet. Venus created them, to plague the Earth, out of pure jealousy... that miserable, vengeful wench." 

_Lord... there's no "happy song" that can possibly drown out this noisy drivel..._

"And THAT's why it blocks the sun's orbit around the moon!" Violen loudly continued. "My God, it's so damned obvious now... I can't believe I never realized it before! The reason that it blocks the sun's lunar orbit is because it wants to stop the Utopia! You know what I'm talking about, Serges... the great and almightly Reploid Utopia that will magically come into existence and wipe all of the humans clean off of the Earth when the sun finally collides with the moon! And Venus, being the conniving whore that she is, doesn't want the Earth - or us reploids, or any who are superior to humans, for that matter - to get all of the glory." 

_Don't go chaaaasin' waterfallsss...._

"Lord, it all adds up! That's exactly why the humans never destroyed Venus! Venus is their grand and beautiful mother, the one who breathed life into them and made it their mission to give the Earth a slow, painful death... Venus is the one who prevents them from danger, and completely denies us of ultimately destroying them. They would never go against their Mother Venus... oh, Heavens no...." 

_Please stick to the rivers... and... and the lakes... that you're uuuused tooo..._

"We Mavericks were destined to be created! Mother Earth wasn't stupid - she decided to let the humans live on the planet for a little while, until the overgrown jungle apes finally were able to think on their own accord and manage to grow smart enough to create a species superior to their own. That's where we come in Serges! Really, what's the point of genocide? We should just focus all of our effort and hard work into creating the world's largest and most powerful laser cannon. And then, when those flea biting humans least expect it - KABOOM! So long to Mother Venus and the humans! Hello Reploid Utopia!" 

_I know that you're gonna have it... have it your way... or nuthin' at... at all...._

"Yes, Serges! That's the finality! The definite answer to all the problems facing the planet! We KNOW why the humans are so damned strong, and it's been right under our noses for years! And I'VE figured it out!" 

_But... but I think... I think you're... moving too... too fasssst....urrgh..._

"I can't believe it! ME! I'm officially more intellegent than anyone in this entire building! I could RULE this place with an iron fist if I so wanted to! The Earth is my oyster, Serges! MY OYSTER!" 

_Ghaaaa.... I CaN't fReAkiN' TAke thiS ANYMorE!!!!_

"Jebus Christophola, SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" Serges finally blurted out, his anger all chanelled into that one satisfying yell. "You are NOT the frackin' Lord of the Universe, boyo! The sun does NOT revolve around the moon! If it revolves around ANYTHING, it would be YOUR FAT ASS!" 

Violen cowered. "But Serges... I was just trying to..." 

"SHUT IT, you overgrown hunk of cancerous toe fungus!" Serges continued, his voice now even more filled with seething rage. "I've had it up to HERE with all of this 'universal prophesy' bullplop! IT'S NOT FREAKIN' TRUE! Venus is not a freakin' living thing with a freakin' brain and freakin' eyes and freakin' ears! It's just an overgrown hunk of rock, covered in acidic clouds. It didn't give birth to the human race! Lord knows what did! So why should people have to listen to some BRAINDEAD VARNISH-CHUGGING IDIOT who can't even tie a goddamned KNOT? Honestly! Do you EVER KNOW when to FREAKIN' SHUT YER TRAP?" 

Finally, the bearded scientist cut his ranting short to catch his breath. It wasn't until he glanced down the length of the cafeteria that he realized dozens of eyes were glued squarely on him - he obviously was in too much of a blinded berserker mode to consider that there were legions of his co-workers and other various Mavericks seated all over the room. An eerie kind of silence fell over the room as the steel drones stared shockingly back at their commanding officer. Rather than risk losing any more of his prized dignity, Serges reluctantly, though calmly, lowered himself back into his creaky cafeteria chair and began nibbling quietly on his sandwich once again. 

After the eerie silence finally broke, Violen began talking again, his voice now dumbed down to a low whimper. "Oh my... I never realized you were capable of being so cruel, Serges," he whined. 

Serges didn't look up; he would rather not look that idiot in the face. "Then you obviously haven't known me for very long, Violen." 

The behemoth was confused. "But sir, I've known you for quite a while..." 

"I _know_ that, Violen," Serges frustratingly interrupted. "It's a figure of speech. It's just my way of indirectly calling you a moron." 

"Oh... okay then," Violen replied silently. The bulky machine never actually considered the fact that just then, he could've just gotten up out of his chair and completely pulverized his commanding officer with relative ease. Serges was pretty damned thankful that he wasn't smart enough to actually do the deed. 

Finally, the sound of a door creaking open whizzed through the air. Though to Serges, the sound was more like a trumpet call from the glorious heavens above, as he knew that Agile and Darrick had finally arrived. He and a mildly distracted Violen glanced over to the cafeteria entrance to see the two slender figures slowly ambling over to them, their backs hunched over in an awkward fashion. Thier facial expressions were that of someone who had just plowed through a decade's worth of massive paperwork in twenty four hours. Not only that, but the two were also extremely unsanitary - both were drenched in a sickening mix of mud and leaves, with a unhealthy blend of melon rinds, banana peels, and various pieces of a discarded tire. They stood before the duo sitting at the table, without saying a single word. 

"Jeez," Serges began, taking a good look at the two disease bags standing before him. "Just what the hell-diddely-el happened to the two of you? We've been waiting here for half an hour already." 

Agile gave him a piercing glare. "You don't want to know, buddy," he grimaced. 

"Well, you ought to give us some explanation," Violen chimed in. "At least sit down. You do look kinda worn out." 

Pulling a medical syringe out of his head, Agile shrugged his shoulders and reluctantly pulled up a chair to sit down in. Wiping himself off a bit, he motioned for Darrick to sit down as well, who did so in a slow manner. It was then that Serges and Violen noticed the repulsively rank odor that was emitted from the two officers. They held their noses and whined loudly. 

"Holy Saint Francis!" Serges exclaimed. "It smells like a sumo wrestler took a friggin' dump on a burning tire!" 

"UGH!" Violen yelled back. "Jesus! What were you guys doing? Taking a sewage sponge bath or something?" 

"Close enough," muttered an unenthusiastic Darrick. "But, ugh... I'm not up to telling the story. You tell 'em, Agile..." 

"No friggin' way," Agile sharply rebuttaled. "I was the one who was tortured the most. I'm very sensitive, you know." 

"Well, I'm not exactly as experienced as you..." 

"Oh please, don't load that crap on me. Tell the damn story." 

"No way! You have a better memory than me, sir. YOU tell it." 

"Fine! Fine!" Agile finalized. "But you owe me a beer for this." 

"Whatever..." 

Wiping a spot of grime off his left arm, Agile cracked his metallic knuckles and began to tell the story. "It all began when Darrick and I met up at the front hall, directly to the right of this cafeteria. We made our way down the slightly narrow hallway, conversing about various things... you know, human kill totals, the Trojan War, the theory that we don't actually exist and that thinking that we _do_ exist creates a parranormal image of ourselves to be implanted in our minds for eternity and that we'll never truly realize how long the string of time and space really extends... you know, normal everyday banter. Then, just as we were heading to the end of the hallway... we... we were..." 

"Ambushed," Darrick finished for his colleague. 

Serges was shocked. "Ambushed...? By who...?" 

"Our own soldiers!" Agile exclaimed in rage. "Can you believe it? There must have been about ten of them... no, fifteen, at the very least. Before either of us could do anything to defend ourselves, we found ourselves stuffed into two individual garbage bags. You see, I myself was actualyy clotheslined, headbutted in the crotch, thrown to the ground, and beaten mercilessly _before_ I was shoved into the bag. Not a pleasant experience..." 

Darrick nodded. "They slammed my head agaisnt the wall. _Hard_." He pointed to a large dent embedded in his helmet. "See this little beauty? _That's_ how hard they were slamming me. Not only that, but they also managed to somehow remove my boots and fill them with raw salmon meat. That's responsible for just a little portion of the repulsive stench that's drifting in the air as we speak." 

Violen scratched his head. "Uh... okay. So then what happened?" 

Agile grimaced. "Well, here's the worst part of our little "adventure". You see, after they had sealed the bags, they thought it would be fun to let us have a little swim in the fortress's internal underground river - you know, one of the only real sources of water in the middle of this godforsaken desert. So they threw us down into there, from a seventh-story balcony. Now, we all know how horribly polluted that river is, due to the leaking sewage pipe aloof in this building and the carelessness of many our recruits. So, after the two of us actually managed to break free from our impenetrable garbage confinements, we were immediately flodded with a cacophony of toxic waste, raw sewage, disgusting food leftovers, and maybe a hint or two of actual pure water. It was horrific, I tell you - one could even say that Darrick and I were close to an agonizing death, just from the powerfully disgusting stench of it all." 

Darrick nodded again. "I managed to get sulfuric acid in my eyes. Not fun at all. My eyes were shot for a little while, and my vision is still a bit blurry." He was right, as his eyes were puffy and painfully reddened. 

Serges ruffled his beard in amazement. "So how in Zeus's name did the two of you get out of that horrible mess?" 

The violet X-Hunter's face brightened up a little bit. "Well, it must have been some kind of a miracle, let me tell you... y'see, Darrick here somehow was able to grab hold of a large stone on the far right side of the river, off of the shore. Being right behind him, I managed to grab hold of his legs. It was a terrible fight against the current, let me tell you... but amazingly, the current wasn't strong enough to keep us back, and we finally were able pull ourselves out the murky deep and back onto dry land. The only problem, though, was that we ended up in the middle of a long, dark, and uninhibited cavern in the middle of nowhere. Not cool." 

Violen was confused. "Then... how did you get back here so quickly?" 

Darrick smiled. "Well, that's easy. After Agile and I walked a little ways down the river, we managed to find a service elevator that led directly back to the headquarters. After we got back, we managed to find the little punks who had attacked us sitting around in the recreational center, laughing it up and drinking their share of cheap booze. _Damn,_ were they scared of their skins to see the two of us amble in, with murderous expressions on our faces. You two should've seen it. They were cowering like little babies, crying for their mommas. It was quite enjoyable..." 

Agile flashed an evil smirk. "Yeah, we messed them up pretty damn good before we finally had their asses punished. As it turns out, we weren't their targets - they were awaiting some friends of theirs from their squad. They thought we were them. Anyway... the important thing is, we're still alive and well, and they're stuck working in the coal mines for the next year or so." 

Serges ruffled through his beard once again. "Uhh... Agile? We don't _have_ coal mines." 

He shrugged. "Yeah, well... we do now." 

Serges chose to disregard that comment and cut to the chase. "Well, now that we're all here, Agile... could we get down to business, please? We've been sitting here for fifteen minutes, and we still don't quite understand what the real point of this whole meeting is." 

Agile nodded, his face returning to its normal sternness. "Yes... well, I've called you all here today to discuss the future of the Maverick Headquarters in light of all of the events that've occured lately. Now, for the first order of business... currently, the very governing of this entire organization is currently at stake. Master Sigma has undergone some sort of bizarre hiatus, and will be unable to stay in proper control of things around here until he's able to face the... erm, "emotional demons" within him. So until then, I'd like to propose that the four of us all rule in his stead. Is that okey-dokey with the lot of you?" 

The other three willingly nodded their heads. 

"Excellent. Then it's settled," Agile finalized. "Now, onto our second order of business... as you all probably know, there've been numerous reports from our security staff about the increased problem involving spyderiod sightings. This worries us greatly, because Lord knows who those spyderoids could belong to... and if anybody saw anything important going around in here, we could all be very screwed. So what do the three of you propose we should do about this little dilemma?" 

Serges spoke first. "Well, I propose that we stick Violen out there. He's a pretty damned powerful fellah, and if he gets wounded... well, I don't think anybody around here would really miss him." 

Agile nodded in agreement. "The man makes a good point." 

Darrick raised a voice of protest. "Oh, come now... Violen isn't fit for a job like that... he'd probably just forget what the hell he was doing five minutes into his duty. I think we just need to send out some more experienced troops... maybe develop some spyderoids of our own, ones that are capable of seeking out any intruding spy machines and destroy them immediately. That's my two cents..." 

Agile turned to Violen. "Violen, my mentally-challenged chum... what do you propose we do?" 

The mechanical behemoth didn't respond; rather, he just glared angrily at the three. "You guys are mean," he whined. "I don't like being at the butt-end of everybody's jokes." 

Serges chuckled. "Heh heh... yes, my friend, but you're just so _easy_ to make a mockery out of, usually when you have no idea what's going on. Kudos to you for actually noticing it this time around, we were starting to get a bit worried about you." 

He and Agile gave a hearty chuckle, with Darrick sitting quietly, not bothering to pay attention to their ridiculous barking. He wasn't joking about Violen's behavior - he was quite serious about it. Violen just lowered his head in shame, making a mental note never to say anything ever again, not matter how much his conscience told him he should. 

"Now, now... let's move on," Agile said amidst the chuckles. "Personally, I think it would be wise to take up on Darrick's idea and go with increasing our security strength. I'm going to have to veto the little 'anti-spyderoids' idea, though... I'm too lazy to have to go through with making those little hellions." 

Darrick shrugged. "Well... alright, then." 

"Good, good," Agile said gleefully. "This meeting seems to be going pretty smoothly... okay, now let's dig deep into some of the more threatening problems facing Maverick HQ. Of course, as you all know, our good friend Vile (or OmegaVile... whatever he's called nowadays) busted his arse on out of here last week, due to the gross incompetence of some of our more... well, _expecting_... colleagues." He proceeded to glare shamefully at the other three. 

"Hey, don't look at me!" Serges chimed in. "I'm not responsible for Vile's behavior. If it was anybody's fault, it was _you_, Agile. You're the one who didn't keep a close eye on the mechanics." 

"Oh, please!" Agile exclaimed in self-defense. "I wasn't qualified for an idiotic job like that! Maybe if _you_ hadn't been such a damned stiff and had been a little more patient with those mechanics, I wouldn't have been stuck with it!" 

"Now, hold the phone," Darrick interrupted. "There's no need for petty arguments. We all know very well this is all Violen's fault." 

Violen looked up from his tuna casserole. "Whutha...?" he mumbled, his mouth filled with food. 

"Yes! It WAS you, Violen!" Serges said, pointing a finger of accusation at the giant. "You're the one who accepted those damned cookies from Vile in the first place!" 

"Yeah!" Agile exclaimed once again. "You're completely responsible for his escape!" 

Violen whimpered silently. "Don't say that!" he yelled. "Do you realize how _tempting_ those cookies were? If you were in my situation, you would've taken them too!" 

"All right! All right!" Darrick interrupted again, this time resting his hands on the shoulders of Serges and Agile. "Just calm down, alright guys? Let's just all admit that we all had a little something to do with this whole ordeal. Let's not be playing the blame game for the rest of the meeting." 

The three X-Hunters all admittedly nodded in a state of silent agreement, and the proceeded to shake hands to enforce a truce. They then chose to continue on with thier discussion like normal. 

"Okay... now, about Vile again," Agile began. "The last we've seen of him was when he busted on outta here through a glass window, and then dashed at the speed of friggin' light through the desert. Now, this is certainly a cause for worry - lord knows where he could be right now, and with his scaringly new pro-human persona, he could've caused a lot of damage by now. Hell, he could've even joined up with the Hunters." 

The other three shuddered at the thought of Vile doing work for the Human Helpers. 

"Yes... I know it's not a pleasant thought. That's why we need to act as soon as possible. Now, I've been tinkering with a plan of a citywide search - you know, scouring the entire area and see if we can pick him up somehow. We'll have to hire some undercover men, of course... but I don't think we need consider seeking help from outside sources. I believe a proper spy could be right under our noses, here in the building. We'll find one in due time..." He suddenly snapped his fingers, his face brightening up. "Yes... that's perfect! You three... I'd like you to search the building for anybody who would like to volunteer for some spy work. When you do find someone - no, a trio would work out better - who would be willing to participate, I want you to report back to me as soon as possible. I'm sorry the four of us can't do the work, but I don't believe it would be wise for Mavericks as recognizable as us walking the streets in broad daylight, now would it? So are we in agreement?" 

The other three nodded. 

"Good," Agile said. "Well, I believe everything's settled. We'll meet after our little spy plan has come into action. You three are dismissed. Remember your duties." 

* * *

"Pathetic. Pitiful. Saddening. The three words that best describe your combat skills, Simmons." 

Magma Dragoon's dark eyes narrowed in on those of Chase Simmons's, a pale, darkhaired young man in his mid-twenties. He possessed something of a scrawny build, with his shoulders bent over and his arms and legs rather meager and bony. Dragoon had recently called him in for a "chat" into his private office, and they both sat on two stiff steel chairs. He feared the dragon reploid sitting before him quite a bit - he was his commander, after all. 

"I'm... I'm sorry, sir," he winced in a soft, weak voice. "I... I understand that I haven't been working up to my ability, but..." 

Magma scoffed. "Please... spare me, Simmons," he interrupted. "From what I've seen of you lately, this _is_ the best of your ability. Not only are you in constant need of assistance on the battlefield, but you always seem to be frightened by the opposing force, even when they happen to be a weak bunch of nothings. Do you think I want people like that in my unit?" 

"No... no, sir..." 

"Then why do I have to deal with twerps like _you?_" Magma snapped. "Why did Papa Cain feel he needed to dump a lousy excuse of a Hunter into my squad? Maybe you decieved him somehow... pulled the wool over his eyes. Or maybe you drugged him. Or maybe you're just some lunatic from the streets, looking for something to fund his vodka. However you got into a squad at this rung of the ladder, I'll probably never truly know. But I figure you must've pulled off something _really_ clever..." 

"Sir, please!" Chase shouted. "Cain thought I was fit for this job! I've been in combat for a good seven years now!" 

"I don't care if you've been in combat for 107 years! There's no excuse for slacking off!" Magma shouted back. "Ever since you've been in this group, you've been falling behind. Maybe you're under the impression that the only Units called into action are 17 and 0 - that only the big leagues are supposed to be serious about their training. Well then, my friend, you've been living in a fool's paradise for quite a long time now. From what I know, there are plenty of combatants in the 12th that are more qualified than you. You know, the ones that get stuck with all the ridiculously simple jobs, and then end up screwing themselves over badly. Perhaps you'd be more at home in a lazy-assed squad like that." 

"No, sir... I wouldn't like that..." 

"No! Perhaps you aren't even fit for combat as a whole! Maybe I could make a special request to move you to a more _fun_ job... like cleaning the mold out from between that idiot Wiedl's toes, perhaps...?" 

"NO! NO! Dear Jesus, no!" Chase shouted in agony. "Please! Don't stick me down there with that lunatic! I'll be good!" 

Magma darted his eyes at the bony human. "We'll see about that, my little human compadre. I have some very interesting work planned for you..." 

Chase grumbled. "You know, just because you can't torture your brother anymore, doesn't mean you have the right to pick on me now." 

The Dragoon didn't even blink. "Oh, please," he said almost comically. "Don't push my brother into this, Simmons. He's being tended to by his little friends X and Zero now. He doesn't need any more guidance from me at the moment. I also don't think it's very wise to put up an attitude with your commanding officer, my boy. You're already dangling by a thread, and I could easily snip it with these lovely claws of mine. Would you like that, Simmons?" 

He lowered his head. "No, sir..." 

"Didn't think so," Magma responded. "Now... tell me, boy, how much training do you undergo daily? Hmm?" 

Chase spoke weakly. "About... about six hours, sir..." 

"_Six?_ Bah!" Magma exclaimed. "That's ridiculous, Simmons! It's no wonder you're falling behind. Yes... let's double that, my boy. Twelve hours a day... I guess that's enough." 

The young man looked shocked. "Twelve?! Are you serious, sir? That's half a day..." 

"No excuses, boy!" Magma angrily shouted. "It'll take quite a bit of time for you to be put up to code. This is dear mercy on your sake, little man. I want you up tomorrow morning by 0:500. Do you understand me, Simmons?" 

"Yes... yes, sir," 

"Good. I like a recruit who listens," Magma responded slyly. "I'll see you in the morning, Simmons. You'll thank me for this someday. We may have a chance at making you something of a decent fighter. You're dismissed, Simmons..." 

Not bothering to even look the dragon in the eyes, he slowly ambled out of the room, his head hung in shame. He closed the door lightly. It looked as if he was about to burst into tears. 

Making sure that the boy was completely gone, Magma arose from his tiny wooden chair and directed his attention to a large file cabinet in the far corner of the room. Ever since the unexpected arrival of Vile, he had been considering doing something a bit risky; in that file cabinet was an extential listing of almost every Maverick Hunter in history, with full data analysis and information on each. Of course, the files were highly classified, and only high ranking officers could obtain copies of them. Dragoon, being leader of the 14th, was allowed to look through them at his own whim. Pulling out the V-Z cabinet, he fingered carefully through the files and picked up the one that caught his fancy. Opening it up, he read through the complete report: 

#00346 

REPLOID CODENAME: "VAVA" CASUAL IDENTIFICATION: "VILE" REPLOID BREED: UNABLE TO CLARIFY 

HEIGHT: 4'7 WEIGHT: 120 IBS. ARMOR: TITANIUM STEEL - C4 CLASS PRIMARY WEAPON - SPECIAL CLASS 76 MOUNTED SHOULDER CANNON 

MENTAL STATE: STABLE HUNTER UNIT: 17th ELITE CLASS 

UPDATE: 16 MAY 21XX Unfortunately, under new and unexpected circumstances, the reploid prototype "Vile" has been sealed in a isolated capsule and kept in an area where he is prevented from causing harm to himself or others. Due to a gross abnormality in Vile's power output, he's gone completely berserk and has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of humans in the area. His power is far above average - something I certainly hadn't planned on, a huge error on my part. We managed to neautralize the threat and control his power - however, his mental state is a complete failure. Therefore, I can only hope for the best from here on. Please keep his capsule unattended. 

- DOCTOR JAMES CAIN 

Magma stared at the small end paragraph in amazement. Vile... so this was why he was feared. He was an extremely powerful being... caused the deaths of many innocent humans and reploids. Amazing... 

He closed the file in earnest and carefully slipped it back into it's proper cabinet. _An extremely powerful being..._ he thought. _Yes... he'll turn Maverick again soon enough... then, I can see this so called "power" for myself... that won't be too long... I can hardly wait..._


	15. A Reawakened Power

**Chapter 15: A Reawakened Power**

* * *

Dr. Cain stood sternly over the stationary form of Vile, as he lay unconscious on a small infirmary bed. The former Maverick menace seemed surprisingly peaceful as he rested silently, totally unaware of what was happening around him. Cain had never really had the chance to see Vile in this state - in the past, he had always seen him in ravenous spirits, acting as rude and cocky as possible while causing a great deal of damage along the way. It was calming to see him in this way. 

Standing beside him was the head of the infirmary, Jenn. She watched Vile's dormancy as well, while adjusting her rimmed spectacles. "We put him under a mild sedative before we performed tests on him, so he won't be waking up for a little while now," she stated. 

Cain nodded slowly. "Yes, that's probably best for him," he replied. "I can tell that he's been under quite a bit of stress over the past few days. And with that little episode he just underwent, I would say that rest is the thing he needs the most right now." 

Jenn nodded. "Now that we're on the subject... how did you guys find him in the first place? It's not everyday that a Maverick alumni finds the time to stroll on in here and try to make amends with us." 

The doctor chuckled wryly. "Well... you might say it was something like that," he explained. "The story is a very confusing one, and I think that I still might want to have a chat with X after this whole ordeal is taken care of... but from what I've been told, X somehow spotted him in a small shop not too far from here. He apparently was trying to make peaceful means with the residents of the shop... or something to that degree. Anyways, long story short, X bussed his arse back to the headquarters and right to my front door. And lo and behold, here is my burden." 

The young woman raised her eyebrows. "Jeez. Just when I thought things around here couldn't get any freakier..." 

Cain nodded again and chose to change the subject slightly. "So, Jenn... would the report on Vile happen to be finished yet? I know that my little buddies outside will be ready to tear me to pieces if I don't tell them what's going on soon." 

Jenn scratched a spot on the back of her neck. "Well... last I heard, Mick was receiving the test results and analyzing them with a group of other medics. My guess is that he's supposed to show up any minute now..." 

Sure enough, the lanky figure of Mick stumbled on in through the side door of the medical room, a folder chock-full of information nestled in his grubby hands. He gave the two figures standing before him sort of a half-hearted salute using his pointer and middle fingers, chuckling a little under his breath. "And God-i-godden to ya both, gentleman and gentlewoman," he greeted. "I hope the day has found both of ya well." 

Cain shrugged. "Hard to really say that, Mick," he responded drearily. "The past few days haven't exactly been easy for me, or for many of the other people in this building. I've been under quite a bit off stress lately with this whole Vile thing... and speaking of that, would that folder you're holding happen to be Vile's analyzation?" 

Mick smirked. "Yeh, this is it," he said, holding the folder up so the two could see it. "We finished it just a few minutes ago - that is to say, _they_ finished it, since I just sorta watched them. I haven't gotten a good look at it, really, so you'll just have to see it for yerself. A lot of it is just a bunch of indecipherable medical jargon that an average joe like me wouldn't be able to understand. Funny, as I've been around here for a while and I still haven't learned the medical lingo... maybe I should learn..." 

Jenn cleared her throat, interrupting Mick in mid-sentence. "Please, Mick, could you just give us the report already?" she said, sounding a little annoyed. "I've been working nonstop for the past six hours, and I think my stomach is gonna end up digesting itself if I don't eat something soon." 

"Alright, alright!" an offended Mick exclaimed. "No need to be snippy, Miss Jenn. Patience is a virtue, you know." He offered her the large paper-stuffed folder with an extended arm. "Here ya go. I'll let the two of you explain to me what the hell is going on with this Vile fellah. I think it probably was just a bump on the head somewheres down the road, but what do I know." 

In earnest, Jenn snatched the folder from the mechanic's hand and began pawing through its many pages. As she started to carefully read through it, her eyes began to widen and a mixed expression of shock and confusion spread across her face, with her cheeks growing pale. She began double-checking the pages she was reading, as if it were hard to believe if the report was actually truthful. She looked rather unnerved by it. 

"D... Doctor?" she stammered awkwardly. "Um... you probably should have... have a look at this... very, very interesting..." 

Without hesitation, the elderly doctor took the folder from Jenn and also looked through it. Soon enough, he saw exactly what his colleague had been so shocked about - the report he was holding contained some highly volatile information on the reformed version of Vile, most of which had come as a complete surprise to him. Surely, he knew Vile had undergone some drastic changes, but not _this_ drastic... it was almost completely indetectable from an outside viewpoint... 

"Oh... oh my," Cain muttered. "But... how? I thought the program we developed years ago had enough power to prevent this sort of thing... I can't imagine it backfiring on us like this..." 

Jenn nodded, in a similar state of shock Cain was in. "I just about as confused as you are, doctor," she stated. "I haven't been around here long enough to know exactly what happened in pre-Maverick War times, so you probably understand what's going on better than I do... but I'm still pretty shocked by it... it really doesn't seem plausible..." 

Mick furrowed his brow in confusion. "What're you guys running off about?" he questioned. "Something in that report that I kinda missed out on, or what?" 

Cain straightened his expression to its normal, calm look. "Err... nothing for you to worry about now, Mick," he reassured the mechanic. "Listen up, the both of you - I need to take this information with me for a little while, so I can have the time to fully analyze it. I'm fully aware of the gist of it, however. Therefore, I think it needs to be shared with X, Zero, and the others. They certainly have a right to know about it." He motioned towards Mick. "Mick, I want you to take a break for a little while and go meet up with the other mechanics. They or Jenn will fill you in on Vile's situation in due time. And Jenn, I'd like you to keep an eye on Vile for me while I head outside for a little bit. I promise you that I'll let you have a break from work when I'm finished sorting things out." 

Jenn nodded eagerly. "Shouldn't be a problem." 

Mick shrugged. "Fine with me," he replied. 

"Good, good," Cain finalized. "If the two of you need me, I'll be outside telling some of our commanding officers the dirt... and hopefully, they'll take it lightly." 

Cain paused for a moment, noticing that Mick and Jenn were giving him awkward glances. 

"Oh, who am I kidding?" Cain muttered, turning towards the door. "X'll probably throw a fit over it, Zero'll make some snide remarks, and Wiedl... Lord knows what _he'll_ have to say about the whole thing. But I reckon that can't be helped, eh?" 

* * *

"Hey, anybody got a breath mint or something? Maybe a Tic-Tac or two...?" 

Zero surveyed the parrameter of the small medical waiting room he and his comrades were lazing in, and saw that X, Glacier, and Wiedl were all completely uninterested in what Zero had to say. Realizing this, he decided to give it another shot. 

"Alrighty then," he reasoned. "How about some gum? Huh? Anybody got one measly stick of gum?" 

No response. 

"Anybody? Anybody at all?" 

Again, nothing. 

"Well, then screw the whole lot of you," he snapped, frowning in dismay. He turned to a silent Wiedl, who was calmly seated next to him. "Wieeeedl..." he coaxed. "You'll let me have a stick of gum, right? You're a generous fellah, right? You'd spare me some gum, or at the very least, a breath mint. Right, Wiedl? It's a simple request, really." 

The ex-general scoffed and chuckled to himself. "Now, c'mon now, Zero! What do I look like, your grandmother? I don't just give you things just because you ask for them, or because you've been a 'good little boy'. You've gotta _apply yourself_, Zero! Can't live your whole life asking people for things all the time, having them do all the work for you! You're old enough to take care of yourself. You're responsible. Isn't that right, Zero?" 

Zero shot a baffled glance at the massive nutcase. "Well, first off, if I had a grandmother, you probably _would_ look like her," he mused. "And secondly, I'm perfectly responsible for my own actions, and I don't think requesting a piece of gum from a colleague is really justified as being 'irresponsible'." 

"Well, you have to think about that, Zero!" Wiedl began again. "From what I know, you've been taught your whole life to just depend on others! That's what a _lot_ of recruits do around here, if I'm not mistaken. Just look at your friend, X. He got his bee-hind whooped quite a bit during the last three wars, and as I understand, you were forced to either blow yourself into tiny, charred atoms, or suffer from a fatal wound. And the way I see it, he's _still_ like that. If you ask me, that's just pure incompetence on Mr. Mega's part, not considering the feelings of his friends." 

An angered grunt was heard from the opposite side of the room. "Hey, Captain Intellegence!" cried X, who had been sitting on the floor against the wall quietly before hearing Wiedl's sly remarks. "Just in case you're totally blind or you have an IQ of five (or both...), I happen to be sitting _right over here_! As in _right near you_...!" 

Before the raged warrior could continue, Zero raised a yielding hand which seemed to signal 'let-me-handle-this'. He grinned smugly. "Well, Mister Wiedl..." he began, the ridicule rising in his voice. "I understand how wonderfully 'golden' your sage advice is. In fact, me, X, and the rest of the entire building would like to take you up on your advisement. It would ensure our future... our fate would be sealed, in fact. We'd all end up in the same glorious state as _you_. We'd be heading towards the golden age, my friend! We'd all be a bunch of irritating, unintellegent hicks with absolutely no friggin' lifestyle at all besides sitting in our tiny little offices buried deep underneath the earth's crust, with a robotic pet spider as our only companions. And, when in contact with the outside world, we'll spend our time belittling almost anybody we view as younger and vulnerable, just to give a good 'ol fashioned Viagra-style boost to our self-esteem. Finally, the birth of a new age of braindead slobs! That'll just be fan-diddly-tastic, now won't it, Mister Peedl, sir?" 

Zero inhaled a bit of fresh air into his artifical lungs and cracked his knuckles in finality. Wiedl, after a brief hesitation to register every little insult Zero had forcefully tossed at him, his only real response was a small giggle. "Yeah, Zero..." he muttered. "You're... you're quite funny, my friend. A good sense of humor..." 

Zero grunted. "Yeah, Wiedl. I'm funny. Funny like a clown, even," he snapped sarcastically. "Jebus Jahosophat, how much longer is it gonna take for Cainey to get his sorry hide out here? X, you've got watch on, right? Tell us how long it's been, good buddy." 

X nonchalantly shook his head. "No luck. Chances are left it back in the room. I think it might be cluttered with all of the other crap that haunts the unlurkable hell which resides under my bed. But out of estimation... I'd say that we've been scraping our butts with cold steel for about... oh, say 2 n' a half to 3 hours, at the least. And if you count the time we waited during the conference with Vile, I'd say it could probably shoot up to four and a half, tops. But then again, it's just an estimate." 

The scarlet Hunter glanced over to Glacier Dragoon, who was resting silently on a small bench across from him. He hadn't spoken a word since they had moved from the interrogation room to the medical ward, and he currently hadn't voiced any response to Zero's anti-Wiedl rant. 

"Hey, X," Zero said. "Err... what's with Glaish over there? He dead or something?" 

X glanced over to the slumbering reploid. "I reckon he's sleeping," he commented. "Hasn't made a peep since we got here. Dunno what he's so tired about, though. Just a few hours ago, he was piping with energy." 

Zero looked stern. "You think he can hear us?" 

X shrugged. "Don't think so." 

Zero glanced at Wiedl, who currently had his back turned to the other wall and was resting his chin in his hand, looking a little defeated. In this state, he obviously wouldn't give a whoop in hell about what X and Zero were conversing. 

Zero started. "X, have you happened to see Magma around lately? Out of curiosity?" 

X scratched his head. "Err... no, not lately. Last I saw him, it was when he was doing light training with his squad. He was acting a little pissy, though. There was some human in his unit he wouldn't stop pestering, and eventually the poor kid stormed out in anger tearfully. It was kinda disturbing to watch, but I chose not to say anything about it." 

Zero nodded. "Honestly, that guy is really starting to give me the creeps." 

"Why so?" 

He pushed part of his blonde ponytail off of his shouldler. "Well... it's just that since the last war, he's been acting really awkward. I mean, he hasn't exactly been your average Johnny Normal since he's been here, but lately he's been acting even more irritated and moody than before. He hasn't left his quarters for anything other than routine training sessions, and even then his communication is limited to cursing at his recruits. And he's gotten more malicious, too, and I don't even wanna know where that's happily gonna lead. I saw him knock Glaish to the ground and ready another attack. Thank Zeus I walked in there just in time... I didn't like that look on his face." 

X began to understand Zero's point. "So... what you're hinting at is that he may end up hurting somebody sometime soon?" 

"He already _has_ hurt somebody. Glaish," he stated. "What I'm really worried about is that he might end up _seriously_ hurting somebody. Y'know, killin' em." 

The blue-hued Hunter had to think about this for a moment. He hadn't been in the room to see exactly what happened during the conflict with the Dragoons, but Zero's story sounded convincing enough. X had never really viewed Magma as an extremely violent person when he had first arrived with Glacier a year before the third Maverick War, when they were just rookie Hunters. But over the years, he gained something of an ego along the way, winning some extrordinary battles during the third war and eventually taking the helm of the Hunters' 14th Grapple Combat Unit. The more timid and peaceful Glacier, however, hadn't managed to keep up with his brother's pace and ended up becoming much more separated from him than before. He proved to have rather excellent combat skills in the long run, however, and Cain managed to land him a spot as Commander of the Hunters' 12th Stealth Combat Unit. And now, it seemed as if Magma had somehow conjured up the illusion that those who don't measure up to his standards are worthless. But would he really turn on his own brother like that? Was he _that_ egotistical? 

"Yeah... I kinda see what you're getting at," he commented. 

Zero nodded. "I'm also worried about Glacier. The kid's kinda naive... I'm afraid he might get himself into some kind of lousy situation with a slim chance of escape. Not to talk sourly of him or anything... but I just think me might be stressed 'bout something. I dunno if it's about his brother or anything..." 

Before either could really say anymore, the creaky door of Vile's small medical room opened up. The small figure of Dr. Cain finally walked out into the tiny waiting room, with a large folder nestled in his hands. An earnest grin came across his face when he saw the four watching him intently from their seats. "Well... nice to see you four again. How're things?" he asked softly. 

"Pretty friggin' boring, mein friend," Zero snapped. "About damn time you showed your face. We've been waiting here for quite a while." 

Cain nodded. "Yes... well, it's been quite a long procedure." He pulled up a chair from the side of the room and took a seat next to X. "I believe Vile is looking much better since he came here, and we're finally getting some kind of understanding as to why Vile seeks redemption in the first place. He's resting very peacefully now... I don't want to put him into contact with the rest of the building until we get a better understanding of him." 

"Alright, alright..." X replied impatiently. "Let's get to the report already, Cainey. What's really happening with Vile? Is he loused up, or did he get a dent in his head somehow, or what?" 

The elderly doctor raised his eyebrows. "Erm, well... I guess I shouldn't shield you guys from the real information any longer, should I? N'kay, lesse here... now, this has to do with something I haven't really told anybody about, so it would be wise for you all to keep your mouths shut about it. It has to do with Vile... Vile's power." 

He opened up the large folder and began flipping through the pages, while X and Zero watched on intently (for some reason, Wiedl was directing his attention mostly to a small yo-yo he had found in the city dump earlier on). "Alright, now... as you know, Vile was not created for the purpose of destruction; when I designed him, he was meant to uphold peace as much as he possibly could, for the sake of reploid and humankind, though not so much as to convert to pacifism. He would still be our ally, and an integral one at that, and he would be one of our masterful Hunter elites in the 17th Elite Unit. When I developed his skills, I gave him a great knack for Ride Armors, and excellent precision with his shoulder-mounted cannon that would ultimately serve as his prime and most essential weapon. His helmet, durable and impenetrable, would serve as his only real face but would provide the upmost protection. At first glance, it seemed impossible that a soldier of his caliber would ever become a failed experiment." He let out a longing sigh. "But alas, things went haywire the moment he was first activated. Havoc ensued - he became a killing machine, a destroyer of both human and machine life. At first, this seemed improbable, until I finally discovered the meat of my mistake; a glitch, a horrific glitch that swallowed all of the goodness Vile could ever possibly possess and turned him to the life devouring monster he had become. With that evil came a power - a terribly large power, one that could've even managed to fall Sigma if given the chance. I knew that he had to be subdued somehow, and luckily for me, the cleverness of one of own young Hunters managed to drug him with an extremely powerful serum (no matter powerful he was, he could easily succumb to it). Vile, or "Vava" as I previously called him, was marked forever as an total failure on my part, as was deactivated in his sleep. I then was able to create a neutralization program - one part of it would lower his power to a much more reasonable level, and the other would keep his neural systems, such as his brain, under complete control. After installing the program into his systems, we finally sealed him in an isolated chamber, never to be used again unless for total emergency purposes. I thought that it would remain that way, but as you obviously all know, I was very wrong indeed." 

He shuffled through some more pages of his folder, skipping the tiny details. X and Zero were very intrigued about Vile's origin, since they had not heard much about it when they were rookies. 

"Of course, you should know the next part of the story," Cain continued. "When Sigma finally turned to the Dark Side, he remembered Vile's quarry and found a way to break him out of confinement and rerelease him into the world once again - though he would still remain a posable threat, the program kept him under control, and he never was able to cause too much damage. He also had no real memory left of his chaotic past, so he never seeked any kind of restoration in terms of power. So we were cautious with him, and managed to destroy him. Then came along Doppler during the third war... he was extremely ambitious with Vile's power, but he didn't dare release all of his potential, for fear that the Maverick's hateful nature would eventually lead to his downfall. So he kept the program intact, but not before making some minor upgrades to Vile's weapons, defense, and Ride Armor. Eventually, Vile abandoned Doppler's laboratory and went searching for you two, but soon returned after causing quite a bit of damage in the city during his watch. Then came his second downfall, the one we thought would be his last. But now, apparently, his body has managed to stay intact throughout this entire ordeal, and somebody found him, tinkered with him, and released him once again... and somehow, that power he once had is finally awakened again." 

X, though obviously shocked, still seemed a bit puzzled. "But... who would turn Vile into this 'Sunshine' character, release all his power, and then shove him out the door to live on his own? Ain't that just a little odd...?" 

Cain nodded in agreement. "Yes... I had asked myself the same thing. But there's only one really logical explanation for it... whoever revived him obviously didn't intend on him turning out this way. Now, let me explain. Vile was under the control of a program which prevented him from reaching any kind of dangerous amount of energy. Before he was recently reactivated, the people who were responsible for it decided to tinker with this program, their main objective being to remove it from his central power source. And they succeded in doing so. However, they didn't cover all their tracks - half of the program regulated Vile's neural systems, which remained untouched. So the big twist to the story is this - somehow, the half that was meant to regulate his awesome power migrated to his neural systems. Combine that with the neutralization the other half, and you have the full program limiting his brain power, and absolutely nothing limiting his physical abilities. Because of his cranial limit, he can no longer entertain ideas of pain, suffering, hatred, et cetera et cetera. It's all just forgotten memories to him, and they mean nothing now. Thus his new pacifistic, happy-go-lucky mood." 

X and Zero's eyes widened. This was really something to take in. For all they knew, Vile could've been completely dominant over them in terms of power, from the description given by Cain. It was extremely interesting to hear. 

"Now, I bet you're wondering about Vile's little episode in the interrogation room. Well, the program isn't exactly a happy one at the moment - half is stuck up in the brain, and is trying desperately to return home to Vile's central nerve center. So as it attempts to turn back, memories seem to flood Mr. Sunshine's mind, and eventually the feelings of hatred and woe begin to seep slowly back in, though not quite enough to convert him back to his previous ways. So in short, though Vile is currently harmless due to his docile nature, he's extremely unbalanced and glooped up in the head, and I fear that any more tinkering with him could accidentally remove the program completely. And from then on, things would _really_ not be good for us. So it's best to keep him as he is, at least for the time being." 

Zero gave him an odd look. "Well, sir? You done?" 

Cain rubbed his chin. "Yes, that's pretty much it." 

X nodded, awestruck. "Wow. That was one hell of a little speech." 

"Well, it's just a composition of all of the information we have now," he finalized. "I'm sure that, in due time, we'll find out more information about this mystery. We just need to be patient. But for now, I'd like all of you to promise that you don't leak this information to any other Hunters, no matter how tempted you are. They'll learn about it in time, I assure you. Agreed?" 

The two nodded, and Cain glanced over to Wiedl. "Wiedl?" Cain questioned. "Do you agree as well?" 

A half-occupied Wiedl turned to face Cain. "Whuh...? Oh, the Vile thingy... sure, sure. Lips zipped, doctor." 

The doctor nodded. "Good. Now, I'm going to dismiss all of you for the time being... Vile's going to get some rests for a little longer, and then we're going to get to a fun part of our little fiasco - combat testing. I know Vile's not really into violent combat anymore, but I think he'll agree to some basic training runs. So I'll see the rest of you later, you may return to your quarters and do as you wish. You can explain it to Glacier later on, since he obviously was taking a small nap during my talk." He lifted himself up from the chair and headed for the medical room door. "I'll see all of you later. Have a nice rest of the day." 

With that, the elderly man exited through the medical door and shut it tightly behind him. 

* * *

"Hey, Glaish. Wake up there, buddy." 

Glaicer Dragoon looked up hazily from the cold bench he was silently resting on. There was X, his hand on his shoulder, gently shaking Glacier's body. The Dragoon uncurled his body and sat up to almost meet X at eye level. "What... what happened?" he muttered. 

"Cain came out," X explained. "He told us everything about Vile and how his report came out... very interesting, indeed. Anyways, he dismissed us a few minutes ago, and Zero left with Wiedl already. I think you missed the entire conversation, no?" 

Glacier sighed. "Yeah... I did, I guess." 

X shrugged. "Meh, don't worry about it. How 'bout this... meet me in the lobby in about fifteen minutes, and I promise I'll explain everything to ya there. That alright with you, buddy?" 

The Dragoon stared to the floor. "Yeah... yeah, I guess so." 

"Alrighty then. I'll just be off." He advanced towards the exit on the opposite side of the room. "Don't be late, n'kay? I'll meet ya then." With that, he exited. 

Glaicer stared blankly at the wall for a little while, in sort of a meaningless gaze. Though he had been in a deep state of sleep most of the time, he had heard little tidbits of random conversations - more importantly, he heard a great deal of the conversation Zero had started with X moments before Cain had entered the room. It was the conversation that finally sealed his fear; they obviously had noticed the same thing that he had a few weeks back. 

Of course... it made sense. Zero must have noticed that same look of threatening malicious intent that he himself had seen in his brother while he was helplessly wounded on the ground. At least now, he was certain that he wasn't just seeing things - that was a killer instinct that had invaded his brother's eyes, no doubt in his mind, and he could've easily carried out a fatal task if he so desired. Did Magma Dragoon, his brother and companion for many years, have been corrupted by an unyielding ego and lust for power? And would he really view Glacier as worthless, and eventually dispose of him...? 

No... no, he didn't want to think about it. He already was plauged with the enitre Vile ordeal, and he certainly didn't want this torturing him during his free time. No, he would take his free time to relax with some of his comrades, and try to straighten his life out a little bit. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he would work things out, somehow. Who knew? Maybe things would turn out okay for him in the long run after all... 

_...only time will tell, I guess,_ he thought. _But I just need to get it off my mind, let time take its course, go and have a small talk with X and Zero... and things'll be alright._


	16. Discovery of the Squealers

**Chapter 16: Discovery of the Squealers**

* * *

The young and lowly mercenary Dynamo strolled slowly through the main fourth floor hallway to the Maverick's desert stronghold, placed at the very height of the fortress's center building. The only real importance this floor held was its housing of Sigma's quarters, where many essential battle strategies were planned and many deals were stuck with numerous underground alliances and international Maverick sects from all over the world. For this reason, the fourth floor was usually bustling with activity, with many different reploids waiting in the hallways anxious to make negotations with their fearless Maverick leader. 

However, times had changed quite a bit in only about a week or so, and the fourth floor had aquired something of a ghost-townish quality to it. Since Sigma's mental status had gone haywire and the X-Hunters had taken charge in his stead, nobody cared to visit the fourth floor anymore since the X-Hunters were stationed respectfully on the third floor. That, and because many of the Mavericks became frightened of their former leader, due to the infamous rumors that had spread instantly like wildfire throughout the fortress. 

But Dynamo wasn't one to give in to the wild stories passed around by his "comrades". He had never been intimidated by the chrome-domed human destroyer in the past; what was the point of starting now? He didn't even consider himself a Maverick, anyway. And it wasn't like he wasn't supposed to be there, that the fourth floor had become forbidden ground for those residing in the building. Why shouldn't he be there? 

But out of all the reasons he had against _not_ being there, he still held one strong reason as to why he _should_ be there: the peace and quiet. If there was one thing he hated most out of anything, it was large, intimidating, and ultimately annoying crowds. He especially loathed the company Rosered, Stingray, and Necrobat constantly supplied him with - the three of them were complete morons, no doubt in his mind, and any time spent with them usually resulted in a few pounding headaches. While they were downstairs training, he figured that it would be nice to get away from them, as well as the rest of the world, for a little while. 

His soft footsteps could be heard echoing through the lifeless halls of the floor. Not a thing could be heard besides that - Sigma had stopped his blubbering and had resorted to a state of complete silence after a short period of time. A lot of the building's stupider Mavericks blindly believed that their Master was not in hibernation, but just wanted a totally undisturbed atmosphere so that he could concentrate on his revered "master plan" that would obliterate all of the humans. Dynamo scoffed at that logic; if anything, Sigma had just gotten tired of the crying game and had resorted to blankly staring out the window. The thought made the mercenary snicker mentally. 

With the thought of Sigma on his mind, Dynamo didn't keep track of his direction and found himself subliminally walking in front of the long carpeted hallway that led directly to the cue-ball's chambers. He stopped for a minute and squinted at the large dual-door setup that served as the office entrance. Though it was a bit of a long ways away, Dynamo could just see a large grouping of papers scattered along the front of the door. 

_Whoa... that's strange,_ he thought. _He's really not healthy. Now he's tossing out a plethora of file papers. What next...?_

Though he was a little confused by the sight, the young mercenary couldn't help but feel a bit of curiosity. He ambled quietly over to Sigma's entrance gates, making sure to not be loud enough as to cause the sleeping giant to awaken. Finally, he approached the front door, and surveyed the files strewn everywhere in disbelief. Perhaps Sigma was in desperate need of some office space...? 

But as he looked closer, he noticed that these weren't just any files; bending over to get a closer look, he could see that the files must have been highly classified, for the upper-class Mavericks' eyes only. Information on former officers... weaponry analyses... budget records... they were all there, strewn out for all to see. 

_Wow, Sigma must REALLY be ill. Didn't he notice how important all this crap is...?_

He rummaged a bit through the papers, until he froze suddenly in mid-movement. 

_Jebus... no... no friggin' way..._

Dynamo thought briefly that he was just seeing things - but when he picked up the large oaktag folder, he realized that he was holding on to the real thing. Quickly, he flipped it over to its backside and examined the small writing on the folder's tag: 

_Dr. Doppler/Sigma Project - 21XX - Classified File #204561_

Now it was certain; Dynamo, by the easiest means possible, had achieved everything he had been aiming for since he had arrived at the Maverick fortress, all in a matter of minutes. Though his mouth was still agape with shock, he knew that he would find everything he needed in that folder he had. 

Without any hesitation whatsoever, the grey-haired mercenary leapt to his feet and sped onward down the carpeted hallway, never looking back. This was too good to be true; WAY too good, actually. As he approached the end of the hallway, he figured that there must be SOME kind of catch to this luck, a few strings attached... 

And then he heard it. "Dynamo...?" 

Clumsily, Dynamo attempted to make a sudden and urgent halt... but it was too late. At practically full speed, the mercenary make a direct head-on collision with the large wall lining the 4th floor hallway, his entire body practically impounded into it. In a complete daze, he lost all control of himself and fell forcefully to the ground, causing a big fat dosage of pain to shoot up through his skull and eventually spread to the rest of his joints. His collision left a neat little body outline on the wall's previously smoothed surface. Though fully in a trance, he had enough consciousness to notice the figure standing before him: Agile. 

The X-Hunter stared down at him in a bit of shock. "Jeez... you took quite a spill there, didn't ya?" he commented. He offered an outstretched hand to the fallen warrior. "C'mon, get yourself up. This just goes to show ya that you need to pace yourself a little bit. Don't want to put a dent in your head, do ya?" 

Dynamo grimaced as he took Agile's hand and lifted himself up; having to take help from people he despised was not something he enjoyed doing. "Thanks for the pearls of wisdom," he snapped sarcastically. 

Agile disregarded that comment. "Whatever. Now, Dynamo... what exactly are you doing up here by yourself? You're supposed to be training during times like these. There's no time for dilly-dallying around." 

Dynamo choked. "Well, er... I was just collecting my thoughts, I guess. Why do you care?" 

Agile rubbed his chin a bit. "Hmm... no reason, I guess. You just seemed a little rushed a minute ago when you came sprinting at full speed down the corridor. I thought you might have had an encounter with Sigma, or something." 

"Well... sorta," he replied. "But I really need to get going, sir. I've got matters I need to attend to..." 

But Agile wasn't listening to him; rather, his eyes were fixated on the object in Dynamo's hand. "What exactly is that there in your hand, Dynamo? It looks... _intriguing_." 

The warrior choked again. _Damn it all! He just HAD to notice that, didn't he?!_

"Uhh... nothing of importance, really," he spurted out. "I've just been sorta recording my thoughts in this folder of mine. It's actually kind of personal, so if you don't mind..." 

"May I have a look at it?" Agile interrupted. 

"Er... well, like I said, it's kinda personal..." 

"I'll ask you again," Agile said, more sternly than before. "May I have a look at it?" 

He couldn't say 'no' now. Reluctantly, he presented Agile with the oaktag folder, almost feeling like he had just handed the Key to the Universe over to his arch nemesis. He watched as his apparent superior examined the front of the folder, skimming over the fine features of it and just checking the general outlook. "Ah HA!" he shouted out of nowhere in the middle of the checking. 

_Damn damn DAMN!_ Dynamo mentally cursed. _All of my hard work down the drain..._

"It's made by Burmingham Industries!" Agile shouted in sudden glee. "Just as I thought. They make very, very high-quality folders. You've got yourself one of the most durable in the business here, Dynamo. Now all you need to do is get some paperwork in there, and you're all set." 

True to Agile's words, Dynamo was shocked to see that the folder that the X-Hunter was holding had absolutely no papers in it whatsoever. He mentally panicked. What in God's name had happened to them...? 

"Uhh... yeah, yeah, I know," he muttered, snatching the folder away. "Thanks for the appraisal, sir, but I really think I should get going..." 

Agile smirked. "Well, naturally. I should be on my way as well, I guess. Need to check up on the other X-Hunters. Lord knows what kind of damage they've caused already..." He began to walk off in the opposite direction. "Tally-O, Dynamo. Get downstairs and start some training, will ya? It's dangerous not to be at dnagerous times like these. You need to be as prepped for battle as possible..." 

Dynamo stood amazed as the purple-hued figure marched off into the end of the hall and dissapeared, totally oblivious to what had previously been in that large oaktag folder. Frantically, the light-colored mercenary searched around the perrimeter of the hallway and saw that the papers had been scattered behind him, obviously from the collision he had unfortunately suffered earlier. Making sure that nobody was taking a silent vigil of his felonous acts, he gracefully swooped all of the papers up and shoved them back into their respective container. 

He had gotten away with things this time; the next encounter with something like this may not be quite as lucky, he noted. As he hurdled down the hallway to return to his quarters on the second floor, he began to question if situations this awkward and troublesome were really worth the trouble in the first place. 

* * *

The Goddess of Good Fortune was not smiling upon Violen's gargantuan body today. 

"Mav'ricks! Maaaav'ricks mav'ricks mav'ricks! C'mon now, don't be a wussy. Needin' some hiiiiigh-class and brave recruits to do some super covvvvert missions, yesiree. The Vileinator's outta bizinezzz, and roamin' the streets without killin' humans... needin' some brave souls to go searchin' for his misguided soul, we are. Volunteer in the next half-hour, and we'll throw in a complimentary 'Nuke the Humans' Tee!" 

The bulky X-Hunter had donned a ridiculously high-toned sideshow voice, one that would make the Amazing Bearded Woman spew puke up to her waist. The poor Maverick had gone to some drastic measures to try and garner attention, and had chosen to station himself outside of the building's cafeteria and shout offerings at unsuspecting Maverick soldiers. Unfortunately, to him, sitting outside there while holding up a sign saying 'HELP OUR CAUSE, FREELOADERS!' was the best way possible to draft some spies. It's imaginable to see how surprised and frustrated he was when nobody paid attention to his desperate pleas. 

"Hey, you there, buddy!" Violen shouted at a lanky passerbyer. "What're you doing, walking around doing nothin' like that? You should be volunteering! It's not too hard, my friend! And you get a T-Shirt! Did you hear me, jack? A _T-shirt!_" 

The thin Maverick didn't give that a response; rather, he simply gave the slow-witted Commander a confused glance and continued on his merry way. It was then that Violen began to reach his wit's end. 

"C'mon, you pansy-ass!" he boomed angrily. "I've been chaffing my rear end against this godforsaken flooring for over two hours now! TWO! And, from the looks of things so far, there's no end in sight! Isn't that just _frickin' dandy like sour candy_?!" 

Though he was feeling extremely tensed, Violen decided to back down for now, realizing that he had lost all hope of gaining the support of the lowly Maverick. Depressed and defeated, he slumped his shoulders over and put his head down, choosing to maybe just give up before he ended up wasting many more blissless hours of his lifespan. 

Then came a soft tap on the shoulder. "Any luck, Violen?" a familiar voice asked. 

The X-Hunter raised his head and turned to see his comrade, Sergeant Serges, standing before him with a questionable look on his face. He looked almost as if he had just been undergoing a stressful search for Mavericks to act as Agile's squealers. 

Violen sulked. "Naw, I haven't gotten one ounce of support. Can you believe it, Serges? Not _one_! I've been sitting out here for hours, yelling at people constantly and trying to get them interested in the job. But nobody seems to want to listen to me, Serges! It's like I'm some sort of madman or deranged mental patient. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong... normally, people should be _swarming_ to me, wanting the job! Y'know what I mean...?" 

"Yeah. It's an enigma, let me tell ya," Serges mentioned, rolling his eyes. "Listen up, we've finally gotten a break, my boy. You can get yourself up from that little rut you're in for a while, Violen." 

The behemoth's eyes widened quite a bit. "Whuh... re... really?" he muttered in faint disbelief. 

"Well, y'know those three slightly deformed new recruits who jumped on in here about a week ago?" he asked. 

Violen nodded. "Yeah." 

"They happen to be training in the gym on the third floor right about now, and Darrick's up there waiting for us," he continued. "He doesn't want to confront the three of them alone, since he thinks it would be best if all three of us formally asked them together if they'd like to volunteer for the job. They seem qualified enough, and've been showing excellent progress over time. There were originally four, but one of them starting slacking off on his training. Not a big loss, I guess." He offered a hand of support to his comrade. "C'mon, lets get going. We don't have a great deal of time, and I don't want Darrick getting too impatient... and while you're at it, throw that horrific sign of yours in the trash. It's humiliating." 

Violen scoffed. "No way! It took me a while to work on this thing! How would _you_ know good advertising when you see it?" 

The bearded Maverick rolled his eyes again. "Just forget about it. Let's get a move on, shall we?" 

* * *

"GhaaAAAA! AGGHHH! LET ME GO, damn your black soul!" 

The panicked voice of Jet Stingray traveled throughout the entire area of the Maverick's training gym, echoing loudly in the ears of all who listened. Though he tirelessly struggled and struggled, he couldn't escape the virtually impenetrable confines of Spike Rosered's deadly spiked vines, which portruded to an impressive length from his hands. Spike held his distressed partner in a firm body grip with one of his hand vines, while hanging onto a pipe in the ceiling with another. In a comical fashion, the overgrown plantlife had been spending his time swinging poor Jet back and forth, causing him to grow extremely dizzy. Naturally, he enjoyed doing this. 

"Ha ha HA, Jetty!" he taunted, swinging his friend around mercilessly a few more times. "Having fun, my friend? Hope this little flight has been enjoyable enough for you. I apologize for the consistently rough turbulence, but it's just the way things are, friend!" 

This was it - the stingray reploid had had enough with this embarrassment. He needed to find a way to cut the cords imprisoning him, and attack his foe in the process... though he couldn't think of a reasonable way to get out of there in the first place. He didn't really have enough physical energy left in his drained body to fight his way out, and chewing his way out was a physical impossibility considering that he had an extreme lack of teeth. It seemed at first like he would be trapped in that infernal binding for the rest of his days. 

Now the spikes were starting to dig into his armor, scratching his inner circuits. He needed to make a decision, and fast. But what in Jebus's name could he do...? 

Then, out of the blue, it came to him; the perfect means of escape, even if it involved a little risk here and there. 

Summoning all of the energy he had left in him, Stingray managed to release a team of blueish mini-rays about the size of an avarage human foot each. The little crew hungrily swarmed around the thorned vines that hung out of Rosered's nimble arms and gnawed away, causing the plant mutant to consistently yelp out in pain. After only a minute or so, the miniature sea creatures had managed to successfully cut up the vines, causing a worn out Stingray to come falling from the ceiling. Sadly for him, however, his lack of energy limited his flying maneuverability, and he ended up crashing straight to the hardwood floor below, flat on his face, with an excessive amount of vines still hanging onto him. Even worse, the little rays eventually managed to snap the cord supporting Rosered, and he also came falling helplessly to the ground, first landing forcefully onto his partner and then slipping off and back onto the hardwood floor. The mini rays also fell to the floor, scattering in all directions and eventually exiting the room through an air vent stationed in the side wall. As you can guess, it wasn't quite a pleasant sight to see. 

As they lay helplessly with moans of excessive pain escaping them, they were watched by a bewildered Necrobat, who was silently watching the events occuring while safely perched to the ceiling upside-down, in basic batlike fashion. Seeing the two obviously in a lot of pain on the ground, he swooped down gracefully and landed to check up on his friends. He kneeled down in front of them, staring at their battered faces. 

"Jeez, you guys take this stuff _way_ too seriously," he commented, shaking his head in dissapointment. "You need to lay off the psychotic attacks for a little while, really. Somewhere down the road, the two of you are gonna end up killing yourselves, and believe me, it ain't gonna be a pretty thing to watch. And you're disturbing my rest. For Chrissake, what do you need to have a decent nap around here?" 

The two defeated Mavericks lifted their heads weakly in unison, each giving angry glares at both Necrobat and eachother. Mustering up the little energy they had, both of them managed to lift themselves up from the ground and stand on their hind legs. They dusted themselves off, glancing at the dents and scrapes they had suffered from their collisions. 

"Ghaa, don't tell me how to fight, Batman!" Spike hissed. "I had everything under complete control, until little Johnny Cheap used that pathetically unfair and stupid excuse of a move on me. Weakling." 

Stingray snickered. "Yeah right, cactus boy. Like that stupid vine trick of yours wasn't cheap enough. You just can't admit to the fact that I whooped your sorry green ass!" 

"Ghaa, screw you, Chaddy boy!" 

"I wouldn't talk, Seany Pants." 

"Oh, that's it, pansy boy!" 

"Alright, alright!" Necrobat shouted, preventing the two from pouncing venomously on eachother. "Let's just chill out, okay fellahs? I don't wanna see any more bloodshed here. From the way I see it, neither of you actually won. You just each made total asses of yourselves. So stop the damned bickering, will ya?" 

Though it looked almost as if Rosered was about to raise a voice of protest to this remark, the entrance door across the room was forcefully pushed open, causing the door to violently slam against the hard brick wall. From their point of view, the three could see a trio of their superiors walking in: the bulky Commander Violen, the thinnish Colonel Darrick, and the slouched-over Sergeant Serges. The three could be seen advancing towards the new recruits in the middle of the room, obviously with some sort of task for them to do. They were first greeted with a wave from Serges. 

"Hello, my friends," he said in the most neighborly fashion he could possibly muster. "I see that the three of you decided to train alone today. Just out of curiosity, why aren't there any other Mavericks training in here...?" 

Necrobat shrugged. "Dunno, sir. I personally think that all of the other recruits decided to get out of the training room while we were in here so that they wouldn't be in danger of injury. Y'see, whenever Jet and Spike here ever get into a major sparring, the two usually end up causing quite a bit of damage, so naturally nobody would want to be around." 

"Hmm... yes, I believe I see what you mean," he said, glancing at the two roughed up soldiers. "Well, we don't have a great deal of time on our hands, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we? For the past day or so, Agile gave us the assignment of searching for a few good Mavericks to do some high-profile covert operations... and, well, we haven't exactly been having the easiest time so far. But, luckily for us, we've found the three of you here, seemingly not doing anything of any _real_ importance. We've been keeping a close eye on the three of you lately, and from the looks of things, you seem to be quite experienced in emergency combat techniques, and we probably can run a few spy tricks by you three, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem if you did happen to agree to take the mission. So, to summarize things... how would the three of you like to do some spywork in the heartland of Terensce City?" 

The three of them exchanged concerned glances. "Err... what kind of spywork would we be involved with, exactly?" asked Rosered. 

"I'll field this one," Darrick chimed in, stepping forward to face the three. "As you all probably know, the little problem we encountered with Vile has caused a lot of worry and recklessness to spread like wildfire throughout our prized Maverick forces. Even Sigma himself has suffered some severe emotional trauma by this whole mess. As far as we know, Vile could be roaming the streets and spreading an anti-Maverick message... maybe even leaking vital information regarding our plans and our general location. For all we know, we could be attacked at any moment... there's just no real way to be certain." He paused for a moment, clearing his throat and letting his words sink in a bit. "And that's where the three of you come in handy. If we can disguise you and send you out back to the streets of downtown Terensce, we can have you do a full search of the city and attempt to re-locate Vile. You wouldn't exactly be out to kill him, but to just neutralize him and return him to the base, if possible. But mostly, you're just going to be scanning the entire city for him, sneaking into and checking out almost any major location you can find. It shouldn't be too hard... knowing Vile, trouble always seems to follow him around, pacifist or not. And that's generally everything." 

Stingray looked confused. "Waitaminute... why are you choosing the three of us, out of all the Mavericks here? Wouldn't it be easier to disguise humanoids? We might get noticed or something." 

Segres shrugged. "Don't worry about that. Most of the humanoid Mavericks in this building are either not cut out to do the job, or are just completely unwilling to participate in it, whether it be fear or laziness or whatever. And besides, we already have a great team of designers who could easily disguise the three of you in a mere matter of minutes." He smiled broadly. "So, my friends... do we have a deal in this? Would you be willing to be our operatives in the city... 'squealers', if you will? I know the three of you aren't exactly James Bonds, but I believe you'll fare well enough." 

For a moment, the three had to think about this, and huddled up to silently discuss it. After about a minute or so, they finally came to their conclusion. 

"Alright, we'll do it," Nercobat finalized. "But it'd better not be too dangerous or anything..." 

"No, no, don't worry about a thing," Serges interrupted. "It's settled then. Meet us in our quarters on this floor at around 8 PM, and we'll discuss things." The three of them began to walk off into the distance. "So long, you three. Do some more training for tomorrow. It's going to be an exciting day, let me tell ya." 

As they exited, Spike scoffed a bit. "I'm beginning to question his definition of the word 'exciting'..." 

Stingray shrugged. "Bah, who cares. This should be fun, guys! We'll finally have some real quality time together!" 

Necrobat didn't seem to thrilled. "Yeah... whatever. Just as long as we can buy some hotdogs from a street vendor. The dogs they dish out in the city are eons better than the crap-tacular ones they mass produce here. It'll be a great thing to experience, believe me." 


	17. Bright New Day, Bright New Conflict

**Chapter 17: Bright New Day, Bright New Conflict**

* * *

Lordy, how X loathed waking up early in the morning. 

"X, my friend, I _try_ to be reasonable you. You know that..." the blonde-haired Zero said to his best comrade. "But, for Chrissakes, man, staying up until 4 A.M watching a 10-hour-long marathon of Seinfeld was _not_ a smart move." 

The half-conscious X didn't bother responding to Zero's nagging, since most of it he could only precieve as random jarble anyway. Instead, he tried to focus most of his energy on one thing - not falling dead asleep. It wasn't quite as easy as he had thought earlier, as he found himself slumping his shoulders over quite a bit before barely stopping himself from crashing limply to the ground. 

"I don't understand what makes you so infatuated with that show," Zero continued. "I've never really gotten the gist of the jokes. Stupid 20th century comedy... doesn't relate to _my_ everyday life. 'Show about Nothing' my ass." 

Again, X didn't have the energy to respond. Soon enough, he began to feel his eyelids slip slowly downwards - the powerful drowziness he possessed made them feel as if they weighed over 500 pounds. Once again, that slumpy-fall-over feeling hit him again, but he managed to stop himself just before giving the padded flooring below him a giant bear hug. 

"Why does my room have to be stationed _right_ next to yours?" Zero complained. "I couldn't get a lick of sleep with that damned laugh track ringing in my ears. You wouldn't believe how much gauze I had to shove in 'em. And of course, you locked the friggin' door, so I couldn't get in there and put my feet both in your damn telly and straight up your wa-zoo." 

Great. Now his vision was getting all blurred up. He was beginning to daydream... the room was transforming into a giant cosmic swirl of color and flashes... 

"What happened to that common sense you usually have?" Zero asked. "You got that little memo Cain sent out, right? It clearly stated that Vile's combat analysis routine would begin at 0:500 hours sharp, and that we'd need to report to the training gym by that time. How could you think you could get an hour of sleep and have enough energy for the combat? You've upset me, my friend." 

But that was all he would hear; in one big swooping action, the poor azure Hunter arched his backover as far as it could go and let his entire body collapse into one giant heap on the soft padded floor. Almost immediately, he fell into a state of deep, undisturbed sleep. 

Zero let out a partially remorseful sigh. "Jeez, X, somehow I could just tell that this was going to happen to you sooner or later..." Shrugging, the Crimson Hunter picked up X's limp body and placed it to the side of the room, against the wall to Zero's left. As he walked back to the middle of the room, a voice sounded from a booth above him: 

"Zero, what exactly just happened with X? He seems to have taken a bit of a spill. Is he feeling alright?" 

The Hunter smirked. "Yeah, he'll be fine, Cain. He just stayed up pretty damned late last night, that's all. I figure he'll be back to his old self after a few hours." 

Dr. Cain, surveying Zero from a small booth encased in glass attatched to the left side of the training gym, sighed a bit. "Oh, I see..." he responded. "Very well, then, I guess we can leave him at rest for a little while. I'll have a chat with him later over such matters - he should know better than to stay up late during times like these." He direction his attention to the short orange/gold figure seated silently over to Zero's right. "Well, Vile? Are you almost ready for the training session?" 

The reincarnated (or, in Maverick terminology, "bastardized") form of Vile took a moment to continue his apparent 'metitation' he had been practicing since sunrise before looking upto meet Cain's location; he had remained totally still, legs crossed in traditional fashion and head bowed downwards, for quite a long time. "Yes, doctor... I suppose I'm ready," he replied silently as he slowly lifted himself off the ground and rose to meet his new training partner, Zero. 

"Alright then, that's good to know," Cain said over the mic. "Now, Vile, I completely understand that you've gained something of a pacifistic nature since your return, and actual hand-to-hand combat may not be something you're willing to do. Therefore, I've decided to have Zero here only do some very minor battle-style maneuvers (Don't think I can't hear you cursing at me, Zero), and if you become ready for it, we'll go into more advanced battle styles. Are the two of you ready?" 

Both nodded in unison. 

Cain smiled. "Excellent. Let's get this show on the road, eh?" 

* * *

"Well, Stingray? Do ya see anything?" 

An anxious Dark Necrobat, otherwise known as 'Juju', stood beside his Maverick comrade and monitored every subtle motion he made. Jet Stingray himself, his eyes still glued to all actions happening from his view in the tiny door keyhole. Remaining true to the spywork assigned to him by his superiors, Stingray had been checking almost every door keyhole to a random shop all over town, searching for the elusive escaped 'Maverick', Vile. Of course, Dark Necrobat and Spike Rosered had been doing their duties as well, but even with their combined efforts, they still failed to locate their target. The work was extremely uncomfortable, as well - due to the surprisingly humid spring weather, the three had gotten rather uncomfortable in their heavily concealing disguises. 

"Eh, nothing much yet, Necky..." Jet responded solemnly. "Keep your patience... you'll get a turn." 

Necrobat sighed. He was costumed in a rather awkward military-esque guise, with a heavy pack mounted on his back, a camaflouge uniform, and a large green army helmet placed on his head. "Could you _please_ hurry up, Stingy? This costume is so damned itchy... I can't stand it anymore..." 

"Oh, and don't you think _I_ could be in a bit of pain myself?" Stingray snapped. He was dressed as a normal everyday policeman, with a fake bayonet in his belt, a blueish button-down shirt sporting an artificial badge, and a regulation 'copper' hat on his head. "You know how damn _tight_ these pants are? I thank Methuzula that I'm not a human, or my sweat glands would be working full time right about now." 

"Oh yeah, Stingy? At least you don't have to carry around this frickin' backpack..." 

"Oh, c'mon, Dark. All that's in the thing is a water bottle you emptied on the way here." 

"Well, it was a pretty big water bottle, ya know!" 

"Yeah, whatever..." 

"_Move_, Stingray! I wanna see!" 

"Quiet! I think the cat in there is on to something..." 

"No! It's my turn! MOVE!!!" 

"Hmm... let me think about that... _no_!" 

"Would you two SHUT UP!" intervened Spike Rosered, who had been standing on the other side of Stingray for the majority of the time without saying a word. He was beginning to lose his patience, just like the others. "Listen, Stingray, you're obviously NOT going to see anything living in that shop besides that cat, because if you had a _brain_, you'd realize that it's five in the morning, and that the damned store is closed. ALL of the stores in this god-forsaken town are closed, as a matter of fact. And another thing is, Vile isn't ANYWHERE around here. I mean, logically, why the hell would he be? There probably aren't many terrible things he did around here in the past, anyways... I know _exactly_ where he probably would head off to..." His voice trailed off. 

Stingray glared at his ally. "What're you complaining about, Reddy? At least you get to wear a lighter and less incriminating getup than we have to." Rosered was disguised in one of the more awkward costumes of the three: a samurai warrior. Not only did he have a completely dark-black outfit with a large Japanese symbol on each side of his torso, but he possessed a plastic katana on his left, and throwing stars on his right. Even more awkward was his head gear, in which he wore a halfed black face mask to cover only his mouth and an out-of-place red bandana covering the rose on his head. It became hard for people to tell if he was a samurai or just a plain ninja. 

"Whatever..." Rosered snapped back at him, fumbling with the plastic katana at his side. "It's not as much as the heat the costume itself attracts, but the commentary I keep getting on it. Do you realize how many people have walked by here and called us a stupid ripoff of the Village People, or something like that?! It boggles the mind, I tell you, destroys the pride of the Mavericks! Why did Agile have to hire those pathetically _stupid_ reploids to develop our so-called 'real life' human disguises that we would remain incognito in? They should've taken more time to do this, rather than shipping us out here so damned quickly. The system just doesn't do shit, I say." He turned his gaze to Necrobat. "And _you_, Necky. I thought I had heard you promise us pure Terencse City-style hot dogs. Well, Mister Batty, I hope you can see some hot dog vendors around here, 'cause _I_ sure as hell don't!" 

"Jeez! Chill, Seany," Nerco rebuttaled. "I didn't realize we'd start our spywork at 4 AM. I thought we were gonna do our job moreso in the afternoon or evening, or something like that. So I'm just about as upset as you are, my friend." He focused his attention back to Stingray. "Now, Jetty, just when the hell-diddly-el are you going to be done with that? I still wanna peek!" 

"No! I'm seriously onto something this time!" he almost shouted. "I think I can almost make out Barbara Walters in there... umm... oh wait, it's just an old dishrag." 

"Fine then! Let's just head off to the next store. I think it's a GAP or something." 

"I hate GAP." 

"Why so?" 

"Because they capture humans, kill them, chop off all their limbs, encase them in a thick sheet of plastic, dress them in GAP clothes, shove a pole up their butts, and display them for all to see. It's mass murder, I tells ya. Inhumane." 

"...uh, Stinger, you do realize that those are just artificial mannequins, correct?" 

"...well, I... uhh..." 

"And you also realize that we, as Mavericks, capture and torture at least one human almost every ten seconds?" 

"Uh... well, yeah, I would say so... maybe not every _ten_, but..." 

"Then I rest my case, friend. You have nothing at all to be bitching about." 

"...ohh... okay, I guess." 

This was more than Rosered could take, and he expressed it well with a loud, irritated grunting noise. _That's it..._ he said mentally. _This is going nowhere... If I don't take things into my own hands soon, things could get pretty damned ugly around here..._

"You guys, this is it. I'm outta here," he announced suddenly. 

His comrades shot him a look of puzzlement. "You're... leaving?" Jet questioned. "Isn't that against orders?" 

"Well, screw orders," Spike snapped back. "I can't take these lousy conditions anymore. Waking up early in the morning... walking aimlessly from door to door, knocking on people's doors and peeking through their keyholes... y'know, if we had just traveled straight to where we _thought_ Vile would be, we could've had him encased in a little baggy by now. Well, no more, damnit!" In a showing of obvious rebellion, the mutant reploid stripped himself of his regulation plastic katana and throwing stars, letting them fall to the ground. Then, holding up his right hand, he let fly a large vine which wrapped itself around a large pole near a small building across from them. Then, in classic Spider-Man style, he jumped up and swung himself gracefully to the top of the building, landing perfectly. 

"You two best keep your walkie-talkies on!" Spike called to his comrades from above; they had all been given walkie-talkie devices in case they needed to contact one another when in any kind of danger. "Lord knows if I'm going to survive this little burst of adrenaline, considering where I'm headed." 

"Where exactly _are_ you headed?" Necro asked his partner. 

Spike chuckled. "Necky, it doesn't take a friggin' rocket scientist to figure it out. But I'll tell ya this: follow me, and I'll gouge both of your eyes out. Ya hear, fellahs?" 

The two nodded vigorously. With that, the Amazing Rose-Man shot another vine out and kept swinging on, jumping from building to building, until he was finally out of sight. 

Stingray looked a bit befuddled. "Err... now, where is he going again?" 

A look of concern on his face, Nercobat stared down the street in the direction which Spike was headed just a moment ago. Realizing exactly where his friend was going, a look of shock spread across his face. "Aww, jeez..." 

"What? What is it?" Jet questioned, before seeing exactly what his partner had seen. It was painfully obvious to both of them now. 

"Maverick Hunter Headquarters..." Nerco mumbled. 

* * *

_Sleep... need sleep... aw Jebus..._

For some unattainable reason, sleep was not greeting X's eyes at the door. He remained totally dormant sitting against that side wall, his eyes heavy, and almost completely shut... from the outside looking in, it would seem as if he were asleep, and sleeping quite well at that. But, alas - he wouldn't sleep, rather, he couldn't sleep. His unconsciousness had only lasted for a few measly minutes - something had been keeping him up, something before him... 

In his half-sleepiness, he could barely comprehend what exactly was happening at the moment... a lot of noise, he would certainly merit that, of course... undistinguised noise, sadly. Lord, if there was anything he hated more than waking up early, it was half-sleepiness - being heaped up in a hopeless lull, dreary, unable to actually fall into a pit of sleep, just barely understanding the world around you. Yes... he almost loathed it. 

During the constant rambling and thumping noises he could hear, he was finally able to make out a familiar voice; a scolding voice, one that he could easily recognize a mile away: 

"Alright, Vile, just take it easy. Nobody's pressuring ya to punch anybody... Zero, put the saber away, I told you to set aside before, didn't I?... no, Zero, don't use that kind of attack on Vile, you know how he feels about that kind of thing... amazing that you could dodge that so well, Vile, but could you please NOT stand in front of the doors? People _are_ trying to get on with their lives... Zero! Where in Lord's name did you get a B.B. gun, for cryin' out loud?!... aww, jeez, you scorched ANOTHER piece of armor... I'm only one man, I can't fix up EVERYTHING for you!..." 

The rambling continued incessantly, and X could tell that Cain and Zero were obviously not on good terms at the time. Not like they ever were, anyways. 

X returned to his dormancy, and his seemingly eternal struggle to get some sleep. Ho boy, he imagined himself in Zero's position, getting snarled at by Papa Cain about his little inadequacies... funny when happening to a friend, but not so when happening to himself. As he continued this thought, he began to slowly drift deeper and deeper into the darkness... 

What the Hunter didn't realize was that, very soon, things in his life and in every Hunter's life would really begin to change. A change he wouldn't exactly enjoy. 

* * *

"Ohhh, I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, I work all night and I sleep all day!" 

Rosered sang a merry tune to himself as he swung from building to building with ease, trying to appear as graceful as possible. Though he knew that jumping around on city structures and singing noisily could possibly irritate the humans that called the town their home, he honestly didn't give a flying fatoot. He just wanted to have a little fun - he wasn't allowed to on a regular basis. 

"I'm so pretttyyy... I'm so pretttyyyy..." 

This kind of loud singing continued to escape from Mr. Spike's vocal cords until, at long last, he perched himself on the seemingly final building. There, standing majestically in front of him before the elongated city streets, was none other than... 

"Maverick Hunter Headquarters!" Spike announced. "So I guess this be it, eh? I was expecting something a bit more refined. Nice, though, that they don't have any of those damned mini-buildings like we have to deal with. This is more straightforward, and easy to get around in, I would imagine..." 

Choosing not to waste too much time, Spike drew out a miniature set of binoculars, whic he had packed with him in case he would so happen to need it. Putting them over his eyes, he adjusted his gaze to the front door of the large building. Not a soul in front; they must've all been busy with training, or still asleep. For another vital safety precaution, he checked over at the very top of the building, which happened to be flat on the left and right sides with a wide triangle-shaped structure in the middle. Nobody in sight once again, and apparently, no signs of any rooftop security systems. _Perfect..._ he thought. _It feels as if they were waiting for me to drop by..._

Without any hesitation, the mutant Maverick repocketed his trusty binoculars. Putting out one hand, he let fly another long and thorny vine, which wrapped itself around a long pole potruding from the side of the building. He then proceeded to bend his knees and propell himself into the sky, clinging onto the vine all the way and finally landing majestically on the roof of the edifice, still on his feet. Glancing over to his right, he could clearly see that the triangular object he had seen was indeed glass; windows. He would be able to look over everything happening without much effort at all. He smirked devilishly at this. 

_Let's see... first window..._ he mentally noted. It was the window on the far right, which could be used to view the main lobby. Rosered peered through it, mentally noting everything he saw. _Hmm... well, we've got a human male scrambling around with his hands on his buttocks, a reploid trying to shove his fists in his mouth, and a young girl having some kind of a wrestling match with a television set. No sign of X, Zero, or Vile, though..._

Disillusioned with his current findings, the stealth spy silently crept to where the second window was, second to the right. Apparently, as far as Spike could see, it was a medical ward of some kind. _Alright, lesee... what we've got now isn't really anything at all... just some distressed Hunter (a large one, at that) seemingly counting all of the tiles on the ground. We've also got some greased-up brunette fellah trying to get him outta there... hmm, pretty interesting, but not exactly what I'm looking for._

With that, he scrambled over to the third window. This window in particular was a wee bit different than all of the others, however, since part of the window had been opened previously. In an attempt to remain undetected by those inside the room, he placed himself behind the unopened part and slightly peeked into the area by placing his head in front of the opened area. Once again he mentally noted everything he saw. 

_Window numero tres... the training room, an obvious necessity. Let's take a peek... well, now here's something worth staring at. We've got some reploids apparently doing some battling in the middle, with a man in a booth above them. Yes... that's Dr. Cain, I believe, and that red reploid to the left is Zero, most likely. But that other orange reploid... I can't really tell who that..._

Suddenly, Rosered let out a silent gasp when he realized who it was he was staring at... it was so obvious! The helmet, the orange/golden armor, the lack of height... 

_Vile!_ he proclaimed mentally. _Yesss! I knew it! I friggin' knew it! Of course he would be here! Aw, jeeziz... from the looks of it, he's training with Zero. Bit of an awkward exercise... but, nonetheless, this is strange. If Vile's training here, does that mean he's re-enlisting asa Hunter? Aww, jebus, that is NOT good... if he gives away our location, and hunts us down, they'll destroy us for sure... and what about the others, like Sigma? He'll be traumatized..._

Unfortunately, during his mental pondering, Rosered failed to notice that his ninja bandana, the one that had previously been tied tightly to the top of his head, was beginning to loosen up. Soon enough, it unwrapped itself completely and fell through the window, the air resistance causing it to fall gracefully like a feather. He madly attempted to regain the scarlet piece of cloth - but alas, it had fallen. 

_Damnit!_ he cursed. _No! The bandana... what if somebody sees it?! Aww jeez, please don't tell me I just let the cat out of the bag..._

* * *

X felt it. A soft, obviously foreign piece of cloth, had landed on his shoulder, jolting him awake. 

He opened his eyes. Zero and Vile were still running through their battle procedures, under the supervision of Cain. He chose not to pay mind to that, though - he pulled the garment gently off of his shoulder, carefully observing it while holding onto it with his left hand. It didn't seem to be out of the ordinary in any particular way; it was red, wrinkled and matted, with two ends of it curled into coneish-type shapes. Somebody had tied it recently - it was a bandana, perhaps. It wasn't easy to tell for sure what it was... but where it came from, X wanted to know. 

A peculiar urge to look upwards struck the wayward Hunter like a lightning bolt from Zeus himself; he couldn't help but comply to it. He gazed upward to where the dim morning sun shone through the windows and filled the room - but there was something in the way. A dark, shadowy figure, was standing there, his eyes squarely on Vile and the others. But when the figure saw X, the azure Hunter could almost feel the sudden fright that surged through him, and upon that fear the figure quickly dashed from the scene, his silhouette traveling frantically within the windows next to him. X gazed at this spectacle in awe, his mouth agape with shock. 

_Oh no... no..._ he panicked mentally. _They... whoever that was... they saw... they saw Vile here... oh Jebus, he's getting away!_

Suddenly, an emergency instinct that had remained dormant within X's intricate systems abruptly awoke. The distressed warrior immediately got his legs into action, leaping upwards from his seat against hte far wall amd making a made dash for the door, ignoring the shocked yells coming from Zero and the others. He didn't really care where he was headed; everything before him seemed like a blur. But he knew one thing - he had to get to the main entrance of the building, and fast. 

Finally, escaping the emassed blur he was encased in, he reached the building's lobby, and ran straight for the exit, leaping over chairs, couches, and fellow Hunters. Bursting through the door and letting the cool morning air rush through him tyrannically, he manage to catch a glimpse of the mysterious man in black running off like a madman. 

"HEY!" X screamed at him, dashing in his direction. "YOU BASTARD, GET BACK HERE! I'M-A-KILL-YOUUUUUU!" Frantically, he switched his right hand to his X-Buster, charged up, and fired some random shots at the stranger. He didn't care where he shot, he just wanted that man stopped, and fast... 

* * *

"Jeez, Sting! How long have we been walking now?" Necrobat whined. 

Stingray checked his watch. "Only about 10 minutes now, Necky. Jeez, you need to learn to be patience..." 

Necro shook his head. "Ain't gonna happen, bub. Patience is a load of crock..." 

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang through their ears. "RUN!" 

Necro looked to his pocket. The walkie-talkies! 

"That's Spike!" Necro announced, pulling out the device and putting his mouth to the reciever. "Hey, Spike! What's going down...?" 

"SHUT UP AND _RUN_!" he screamed back to him. "NO TIME FOR EXPLANATIONS! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! RUN BACK TO THE BASE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! RUN ALL THE WAY OUT OF THIS ROTTEN STINKIN' TOWN! RU- AWW, DAMNIT! HE NIPPED MY SHOULDER, THE DIRTY ROTTEN SUNNUVA..." 

Hearing their partner's desperate moans of agony, the two glanced at eachother with equal confusion. Each sighing, they turned tail and began running back to the desert, to where the fortress was. They'd meet up with Spike soon enough... if luck was with them. 

* * *

X could see the figure struggling; he had been hit, no doubt. But still, X had lost his chance of catching up to him eons ago - the man had already reached the horizon, and X was quite a ways back from there. 

"YEAH, YOU'D BETTAH RUN, YOU COTTON-PICKIN' BASTERD!" X cried madly. "BUT NEXT TIME, I'M-A-KILL-YOU! YOU HEAR DAT, SUCKA? _IIIIM AAAA KEEEEL YEWWWW!"_

"X! What in the name of Green Gables are you doing?" voiced a familiar figure behind him: a distressed Zero. "One moment I see you snoozing away ij the gym, the next moment I see you running out here, screaming like a friggin' madman! What gives?" 

"HAYSAW!" X shouted vulgarly at his friend. 

Zero sighed. "Jebus, X, _please_ don't make me go thorugh this again..." 

"HaaaaaaySAW!" X repeated more loudly. 

"What? A hay saw?" Zero asked. "First you ask for an ice saw, and now it's a friggin' hay saw? What the hell's wrong with you...?" 

"THEY SAW!" X finally burst out. "Somebody... I don't know who it was... but... they saw... Vile... in the gym... through the window on the roof... he knows about it..." He was breathing heavily now. 

"Alright buddy, calm down..." Zero consoled, putting a hand on X's shoulder. "C'mon... you were half asleep. Maybe you were just hallucinating, like you always do..." 

"NO! Not true!" X shouted, pulling out the red bandana that had fallen on him earlier. "Look at THIS! This was his! He dropped it, and it landed on my shoulder while I was asleep! When I got a glimpse of him, he immediately turned tail and ran off frantically, so I KNEW he was up to no good. I almost got 'em, too! So close!... I was so close..." 

"Okay, that's enough fresh air for you, my friend," Zero interrupted, leading his friend back to the building. "Seems to me that you REALLY need to get some sleep. If this kinda thing is really bothering you that much, then I suggest taking up the matter with Cain. Now c'mon, we're going back to the Headquarters. What you need is a cup of Joe and a rest, my friend. Lord knows we all do..." 


	18. A Desperate Re-Organization

**Chapter 18: A Desperate Re-Organization**

* * *

"...and then he caught a glimpse of me, and I knew the cat had been let out of the bag. So, out of total instinct, I ran off like a little girl, with him chasing me from afar. He managed to plasma a bit of my shoulder, but it's nothing serious." Spike paused for a moment. "Well... that's what happened," he finalized. 

Stingray appeared to be in total awe from this tale. "No way," he stated, without really registering his comrade's words. "There's no way you could've let that happen, buddy..." 

"Do you think I would be as stupid as to lie to you about something _this_ serious?" Spike reasoned. "I'm not lolly-gagging about this story, guys. That little pisser of a Hunter, X, caught sight of me staring at him. I had everything planned out _perfectly_, up until that little mishap." He cursed to himself silently, shaking a fist in the air. "It was all that damned bandana!" he yelled. "I swear to Bhudda, when I find the lackey who tied that infernal ninny of an accessory to my head, I'll send a vine _straight_ into his crotch! That cheap no-good bastard..." 

Jet still looked a bit shocked at Spike, in shock at the total physical drag he appeared to be in after his apparent run-in with the Hunters. He, Rosered, and Necrobat had currently been taking their time walking listlessly through the hot desert on their way back to their new homeland, Sigma's fortress; it was quite similar to the first time they had trekked down that very same desert only weeks ago, though it seemed much more stretching and intimidating than it had been previously. All three walked at a much slower pace, since their energy had been practically depleted due to their evacuation. They were now much more normal-appearing, since they had ditched their pathetic excuses for disguises a while back. 

"I'm still in the dark a bit, Spike," Nercobat chimed in, not really acknowledging the unintentional pun in his words. "I mean, I understand that being recognized and chased after by MegaMan X himself is a perfectly understandable reason to get your legs pumping, but... well, what was the point of evacuating the city altogether? We could've just found a secluded place to hide out for a little while, and then could've made some sort of move..." 

"...yeah, and let the news of our arrival sink in?" Spike finished for him. "I don't think so, my friend. Had we stayed in that godforsaken town for any longer, somebody would've found us out - then there'd be no way out, and we'd all be quite screwed, both us and all the Mavericks in general." He stuttered a bit. "That X was _ravenous_, believe me. You should've seen the look in his eyes... it's the look I imagine he gave Sigma when he beat his brains out during the later days of the first Maverick War. Jeeziz... for a little while back there, I thought the doors were closing in on me, and that I wasn't gunna make it out alive. Luckily, I managed to escape with only a little nip on me..." He glanced back at his shoulder, seeing the small scar that had surfaced on it not too long ago. 

"Well, what does that mean, then?" Stingray questioned. "I mean, we had to evacuate town, and it's not likely we'll be heading back, right? So aren't we _already_ screwed? If word gets out that Mavericks invaded town, they could start seeking us out, or something." 

"No... not necessarily," Spike responded. "There isn't a scrap of concrete proof in all of Terensce that Mavericks, or any anti-Hunter factions for that matter, had barged into town. Our fortress is pretty damned secluded, too, so even if they did search, not much of a chance they'd find us out here. And, sure, we were driven out of town, but it doesn't mean that a counterstrike is out of the question, now, does it? Agile and the others will take it cleanly, I assure you. It won't be hard for us to come back, I reckon. We just need a new spy, that's all... one that'll sneak into the HQ and nab Vile. Simple as that." 

Nerco scratched his head. "Err... well, why do we need a _new_ spy to go back there? Why can't the three of us just go back and capture Vile by ourselves?" 

Spike scoffed at his question. "Necro, do you have a brain?" he snapped in response. "If we march our asses back there, you know what'll happen? Somebody from those damned Hunters will recognize us on the spot, and then there'll be hell to pay, believe me. Listen, I'll just tell Agile what happened and then we'll slowly back out of the situation, so they can do whatever the hell they want without us being their little lapdogs again. Throw the ball into their court, y'know?" 

Sting sighed. "I dunno. I still think that Agile's gunna be pretty damned pissed off when he hears about our screw up..." he said wearily. 

"Oh, please," Spike commented. "Agile'll take it fine, believe me. He's nothing like Sigma, who went nutzo over every little screw-up the Mavericks made. It's not like it's the end of the world, you know..." 

* * *

"You did WHAT?!" Agile bellowed at the Maverick trio before him. 

Rosered stood back for a moment, a bit shocked at Agile's sudden reaction. Upon arriving back to the base, the three had informed their superior officer of everything they had experienced during their little 'exploration' of the city, and why they had been forced to ultimately retreat. Despite Spike's expectations, the Admiral in name only didn't exactly take his story with a cup of tea. 

"Agile, calm down," Darrick coaxed from the back of the room. "It's not _all_ that bad..." 

"Oh, what the hell are you talking about?" Agile shouted at him in response. "Don't tell me to calm myself down, dagnabbit! How could I possibly calm myself down when I hear something THIS extreme?!" 

"Sir, if you'd please just hear us out," Spike chimed in once again. "It's not like investingating Hunter Headquarters is an easy thing. There're guards, and cameras, and alarms..." 

"Forget about those, you loony!" Agile shouted. "You messed up because of irresponsibility! You lost control of a little, stupidly tied bandana! That's just borderline ridiculous, if you ask me! How incompetent can one get, I ask you?" He turned away from the group, muttering some indecipherable jargon that sounded something like deranged curses. He then turned back to continue his ranting. "And of ALL the people who had to draw attention to, it just HAD to be the guy who KILLED Sigma THREE TIMES and is acclaimed as one of the most powerful reploids to walk the planet! For Chrissakes, man! What in the name of jahosophat were you THINKING?!" 

"He was just sitting there, in the far corner of the room! I didn't see him there!" Spike exclaimed. "All I could see was Zero, Vile, and Cain. I didn't realize how close I was to X until I actually dropped the bandana (which I didn't even tie, anyway). Anybody could have easily made the same mistake!" 

"There can't BE any mistakes during a vital operation like that! I don't even understand why you rushed on over there in the first place!" Agile boomed. Finally, he grew eerily silent, his face down to the floor. He sat down calmly, without even looking up, and waved a hand of silent dismissal. "You three... you may leave now, please," he ordered in something of an ashamed tone. "Go back to your quarters and rest, or something... we won't be needing you around here for now. Just... go. That's all I have left to say to you." 

Sting and Jet, still in shock, each took this as something of an offense. Before they could rebuttal, however, Rosered gently placed a hand on each of their shoulders in silent protest. "C'mon, let's get going, guys," Spike told them calmly, turning towards the door. "We ain't wanted here no more... let's let them take care of things." He began to advance towards the exit, eventually leaving the office altogether, with a bewildered Sting and Necro immediately following him. Little did they realize that, despite his actions previously, that he wa happy that the group had been 'fired'... after all that searching, a rest was sounding pretty damned good to him at this point. 

With the three gone, Agile buried his face in his hands in an obvious gesture of shame. "Wonderful... la-de-frickin'-da," he muttered. "We're screwed now, aren't we, Darrick? X found us out... I can't believe this..." 

Darrick shrugged his thin shoulders, taking a stance next to his superior. "Well, I wouldn't go _that_ far, sir. Who says that anybody's gunna believe everything X says, anyway? Besides, I think that those three Mavericks were a little misguided as well. Those costumes were a little underfunded, as I can remember, and the three weren't really qualified in the field of espionage, either." 

Agile, though still a bit stressed, nodded his head in agreement. "Yes... true, true," he muttered in response. "By the way, did you happen to see Serges and Violen anywhere around here? I haven't seen a trace of them all morning." 

The slender Maverick rubbed his chin in thought. "Err... I think they're still having breakfast, sir," he replied. "Speaking of that, do you wanna get some now? I don't think they'll be serving it for that much longer..." 

Agile shook his head. "No, no... I'm in no mood to dump raw sewage into my systems at the time," he wearily muttered. "It feels almost like I'm stuck in a cage in a Reploid zoo somewheres, with a cruel and horrifically ugly human zookeeper. There's no way out, damn it all..." 

"What about a new spy, sir?" he suggested. "There's no reason to be in this sudden slump and stop doing anything productive. Those other three weren't exactly the greatest spies we were looking for, I'll tell you that, but one of them _did_ find Vile's general location, which was really a very important and vital step into ultimately turning Vile against the world again. What we really need right now, sir, is somebody in this building that we know who has some kind of experience and tactical knowledge of basic espionage, and who's really willing to do the job." He paused for a moment. "Unfortunately, at the time, I can't really think of anybody in the building like that... it's just a matter of finding that person out..." 

Suddenly, Darrick's words hit Agile like a ton of bricks, giving him something of a psychotic but almost plausible notion. A soldier in the building... with a known experience of espionage, and powerful to boot... yes, he'd be perfect! He knew exactly who would be fit for the job... the only problem was... 

"He'd never be willing to do it without something in return," Agile mumbled, voicing his thoughts a bit without realizing it. "But... if I can just do a little haggling with him, I might have something here..." 

Darrick looked at his comrade with a little puzzlement. "Sir?" he asked. "Err... what exactly are you talking about?" 

"What?" Agile sharply responded. "Oh, nothing really... I just, uhh..." 

"You just what?" Darrick asked. 

"Well, uhh..." he muttered, slowly rising from his seat. "I... I really need to get going, Darrick... there's something I REALLY need to take care of... RIGHT NOW. Stay here for a little while, I promise I won't be long. Trust me... and if you see Violen and Serges, give them my regards, please..." Without any further hesitation, the violet Maverick lunged for the door, bursting out with no apparent avail. All he left behind was an opened door and a very, very confused Darrick. 

_Jeez..._ Darrick thought. _From the way he was acting, it almost seemed like he REALLY was in need of a bathroom or something. But I didn't know a reploid was capable of doing that..._

* * *

"X, Zero... nice to see the both of you," Cain said in his normal, gentle tone, from his desk. "Why don't the two of you take a seat?" 

The two Hunters silently nodded and each sat in the chairs set up it front of the desk. X sat to Cain's left, with Zero to his right. X still looked a bit shaken up from previous events. 

"Now, then," Cain began. "I'd like to hear a little about the sudden conflict we ran into this morning involving an awkward thing X saw in the training gym. If you don't mind, X, could you tell us a bit about what exactly it was that happened?" 

The azure Hunter nodded. "Yes, sir... it really isn't that complicated of a story, actually. I was sitting near the corner of the room, in a bit of a daze... let's say a half sleep. Anyways, out of the blue, I felt something hit my shoulder, which kinda brought me back to reality. It was a red bandana, and it seemed that it had fallen from the ceiling. I looked to the windows and saw a figure all dressed in black, looking at Vile and Zero in awe. When he realized I was watching him, however, he seemed to have gotten really spooked and sped off immediately. Thinking that something was really wrong, I went after him, but he managed to get away before I could catch him. I think I was able to wound him a bit from my plasma shots, though, since after one shot he began to stagger about awkwardly for a few moments before ultimately escaping. And that's about it, doc." 

Cain pondered this for a moment. "X, this bandana you're talking about... would you happen to have it with you?" 

"Yeah, I've got it," he quickly replied, pulling out the garment and handing it to the doctor. "It's a little roughed up because of my running and all, but that aside, it's still in pretty good condition." 

Dr. Cain took the scarlet piece of matted cloth and examined it for a bit. He noticed that the bandana had no distiguishable markings or insignias printed on it, and also lacked any kind of grime or any kind of substance for that matter. It just seemed to be a regular, ordinary piece of red cloth, and nothing more. This came as a little awkward to Cain; he thought that it would at least have some sort of marking on it, at the very least. 

"Hmm... doesn't seem very out-of-the-ordinary to me, X..." he muttered to the Hunter. "I don't think you can be so sure as to assume that this man was some kid of enemy, X. You know, some young hooligan could've just as easily snuck up there and have taken a peek through the windows for cheap thrills, and just dropped their bandana by mistake. You really have no real need to jump to conclusions like this so quickly..." 

"Yeah, right," X voiced. "It's highly unlikely that some prepubescent little brat would somehow find a way to sneak on top of a building this large and then find their way off the thing in a matter of seconds. Only someone with experience and ability could've pulled off a crazy stunt like that. And believe me, they weren't looking in there just for fun, I'll tell ya that much. I could see that they were really intent on Vile for some reason, like he was their prime target. It was almost like that guy _knew_ that my seeing him would cause a helluva storm, so he ran off. And by the way he was running, he seemed VERY unnerved by the whole situation. As far as I'm concerned, the only kind of spy that would be acting that way would be..." 

"...a Maverick?" Cain finished for him. 

"Yeah," X agreed. "I don't know how he got there, but that could've been an Irregie staring through that window. It would really explain a lot." 

Cain nodded at that. 'Irregie' was a playful term the Hunters threw around once in a while, which was slang for a Maverick, due to their general reploid status as 'Irregulars'. "Well, we can't really know for sure, can we?" the doctor pointed out. "How about you, Zero? How much of this did you experience?" 

Zero shrugged. "Not that much, sir," he replied. All I really saw was X spazzing out, with him running out of the gym like some deranged lunatic. I know that something is seriously wrong when X starts acting up like that, so I chased after him, and didn't catch up until he was already pretty far down the road. At first, I could've sworn that the outburst was a direct outcome of the lack of sleep he had last night, but by the way he was describing it on the way over here, it really seemed like he had seen something. And that bandana had to come from somewhere, I guess..." 

The doctor had to agree with that logic. "Yes... I can assume as much as to say that there's a very good possibility that what X is saying is true," he said. 

X glanced back to the doctor. "Err... well, doctor, what are we gonna do about it now? Should we search the city, or start interrogating people around the building, or what?" 

Cain shook his head at this. "No, no... I don't think that's really necessary, X," he stated. "While we do have some proof that somebody was looking in on our activities, we can't just blindly assume that the certain somebody just so happened to be a Maverick... we'll never really be 100 percent clear on the matter, if you ask me..." 

X seemed a little panicked. "But, doctor... we've gotta do something! I mean, if the Mavericks found out about it, they could just bust in here and take it from us easily! We need to prepare ourselves somehow..." 

"Now now, X..." Cain assured. "I can certainly understand that, during high-tension times such as these, that one would easily be frightened by an unidentified figure watching their activities. I won't even deny the fact that I myself am a little concerned about this whole thing. But you also have to understand, X, that I can't just jump to something as big as a city-wide search for one shadowy figure. But I'll compromise with you, my friend. What we can do is prevent Vile from any kind of capture by sealing him in a completely isolated capsule during the evening. Also, we'll implement some security guards to keep watch over the thing by night, so that they can stop somebody before they can even touch the thing. Does that sound like a good idea to the both of you?" 

Zero nodded nonchalantly. "S'all good with me." 

X, still looking a bit afraid, nodded with him. "Yeah... I guess that'll work out..." 

"Alright, then," Cain stated. "I'll get some security guards on the job as soon as possible, and they should be ready by tonight. If the two of you don't mind, I'd like you to help me out with Vile later tonight. I'll have my hands full with the capsule and everything, and you two would make great assets. Oh, the damnation of old age..." 

* * *

Dynamo lay back on his "cushy" bed mattress in total silence, fumbling through the cavalcade of papers that had emassed the classified folder he had just ransacked from Sigma's quarters. No matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't understand a word on those pieces of paper - they all appeared to be in some kind of technical jargon that was well beyond his knowledge. 

"Cata... phractictionary... extremitool... tockgloxination? What the hell is _that_?" he muttered to himself. "Why in the name of holy hell would Mercutio be interested in something as perplexing as this? I can't expect any human _or_ reploid who could make this crap out. It's an injustice, if you ask me..." 

Then began Dynamo's thoughts of Mercutio again. Since he had retrieved the file the previous afternoon, he had constantly been attempting to come in contact with his superior. But it was all in vain, as he was receiving absolutely no response. This befuddled the lowly mercenary to no end; where Mercutio would actually go was beyond him, as his commander never really traveled much unless he really needed to. But Dynamo wasn't all too worried about this - taking some time off and relaxing wasn't that bad of a deal in his mind... 

* * *

_Aww... jeez, this might be a mistake. What'll I do if he tells me off or something? Dammit, he'd better comply... as far as I can think, he's really the best chance we have of getting Vile back... oh, Lordy, why the hell do I always get jammed into situations like these?!_

Agile debated with himself mentally, almost causing the misfortuned Maverick to have a migraine. He had just ran eagerly from his very own office to the soldier's main quarters, where Dynamo and others were stationed. Though he did manage to find Dynamo's own dorm, Room 406, he had been standing before it in complete dormancy for at least five minutes now, pondering whether or not it was worth taking a risk with the disobedient mercenary. At this point, Agile was really out of options - none of the higher officials like him were worth risking, and pretty much everybody else was underqualified. Though he was something of a newcomer, Dynamo was extremely experienced and strong, as was proven by his superior skills during training. Also, Agile remembered that, according to his report, he had something of an extensive experience of espionage and basic battle skills, though it never clarified what kind of espionage he did. But that didn't really matter at this point... he just needed a new spy, and fast. 

But what if this didn't work out? Though Dynamo had potential, he was obviously quite arrogant and independent, which had shown greatly during his training sessions as well. Why would he be interested in doing a high-risk spy job for the sake of the Mavericks...? 

_He'll probably want something in return..._ Agile thought. _If that's so, then I have something that he'd probably take to... though I would like to keep it. Oh well... here goes nuthin'._

Taking a deep breath, the violet X-Hunter rapped a fist on the door to signal his presence. 

* * *

Dynamo heard it. A faint knocking at his door... somebody was there. Quicker than lightning, Dynamo collected all of the files he had laying around, placed them back in the folder, and shoved them back under his mattress where nobody could really see it. With total caution, he proceeded over to his front door and glanced through the peephole to see an extremely familiar and infamous figure on the other side. 

_It's that superprick of an X-Hunter, Agile..._ he thought with silent frustration. _Just friggin' wonderful. Why is he bothering me now? What stupid thing did I do or not do this time...?_

"Hold on a sec, I'll unlock the door," Dynamo muttered to him, undoing a latch that kept the entrance securely shut tight. He then opened the door to see his commanding officer in a bit of a daze, seemingly from doing some kind of unclear exercise. 

Dynamo gave him a bit of an unwelcoming glare. "What're you doing here?" he sharply asked. 

Agile took a small breath. "Well, Dynamo... I really need to talk to you for a minute or so. Would you mind me coming in?" he asked. 

The mercenary kept the same glare on the X-Hunter, but now mixed the look with one of severe mistrust. "What exactly do you want to talk to me about?" he asked him again. He wouldn't succumb to Agile's request without putting up a fight first; it was his nature, afterall. 

"Well... it involves something of an internal affair between us and the Hunters," Agile began. "We've recently discovered something rather... well, interesting. But I don't want to talk about it out here. You think I could come in for a bit? Others really can't hear about this... it's rather classified." 

Now this caught Dynamo's attention. _Classified, huh...?_

"Err... alright, come on in," he invited reluctantly, stepping away from the door and back into the room. "You can pull up a chair from the side wall, I guess. Just make this quick, alright?" 

"Oh, don't worry, I'll strive to be as efficient as possible, my friend," Agile assured, pulling up the chair in question and taking a seat next to where Dynamo had just taken a seat on the mattress. "Now, Dynamo, you know that our former comrade, the notorious Vile, was discovered and mistakably revived as a peace-loving loony almost a week ago, remember?" 

He nodded, remembering specifically how totally uninterested he was during the whole reincarnation deal. "Yeah. So?" 

Agile paused. "Well, it seems that we've kinda... well, we've found out where he is. Spike Rosered saw him doidiling around the Hunter's HQ this morning. Sadly, though, the braindead bloke ended up screwing things up pretty badly by dropping a piece of his disguise right onto the acclaimed Hunter, X, without evenpaying attention to it. Had he stayed there any longer, our cover would've been blown wide open, revealing to the Hunters exactly what we were trying to do with Vile. In laymans terms, he nearly screwed us." 

Dynamo chuckled mentally. _Figures._

"But enough about that," Agile began again. "Due to Rosered's little mishap, we won't be able to send him or the others back without them being noticed somehow. So what we need is somebody to complete an extremely important task for us... to sneak back into Hunter Headquarters and snatch Vile back for us somehow. But it can't just be any person... somebody experienced in espionage and combat, who would be efficient and tactical in that kind of situation, and who wouldn't be noticed easily..." 

"Agile..." Dynamo interrupted. "Just cut to the chase, will you? I'm a busy man." 

The X-Hunter cleared his throat. "Well, alright then... from what I know about you, Dynamo, you're actually quite fit and well-suited to complete this task for us. So how about it? Would you be willing to capture Vile for us?" 

Dynamo couldn't help but snicker at this. _Gha hah hah... pathetic loser._

"Yeah, I'd be perfectly willing to do the work... for a price, that is," he responded in a mid-chuckle. "So, Agile, you got anything in it for me?" 

Agile cringed. _Damn! I knew he would want something back..._

"Alright then, Dynamo... I'll bargain with you," he stated, reaching for the mid-sized hilt of an old piece of weaponry that appeared to be something of a lightsaber. He handed it to the mercenary. "You do this little capture for us, and I'll let ya keep this." 

Dynamo warily took the object from Agile's hand, observing it for a brief moment without actually activating it. "What exactly _is_ this hunk of junk?" 

Agile scoffed, feeling a bit offended by that remark. "That 'hunk of junk' you're holding now just so happens to be my rare special-edition beamsaber that I've been using since the beginning of my days as a Maverick. Sigma was always experimenting with new weapons, and had that one crafted specifically for my very own use. The thing is actually quite lightweight and easy to handle, and has a few added features that most sabers don't really have these days. It's actually double-edged, and has sort of a magnetic pull feature that allows it to automatically return directly to who originally threw it. I never really used those features, though, since I never could really handle them without causing some unwanted damage..." He paused for a moment in silent reminisence. "Anyway, combat isn't really my job around here anymore, so it really doesn't come as much use to me nowadays. So I'd like to pass it down to you if you can do this little task for me and the rest of the Mavericks. So... how about it...?" 

Dynamo observed the hilt a bit more before speaking again. "You seem to speak highly of this crappy piece of tin..." he muttered, "so why don't we test the thing out, eh?" 

Without hesitation, Dynamo fluently activated the double-edged lightblade and uncaringly flung it across the room, forcing Agile to duck and narrowly dodge the psychotic sword's path of destruction. The blade managed to successfully cut holes through a table or two, part of the wall, and a small portion of the neatly-carpeted flooring before gracefully returning to his hand. Dynamo then deactivated the little wonder and glanced at it with much more admirance than before. 

"Heh... I just might begin to take a liking to this thing, guy," he responded to a frightened and fully shocked Agile. "I guess we have a deal, then. I'll be your little reploid catburgalar for one night, and I get this spiffy thing. A pretty reasonable offer, if you ask me." 

Agile, still recovering from the shock, ambled back to his feet and smiled nervously. "Err... uh, yes, that's quite good. I think I'll be getting a move on now... yes, that's the safest thing for me to do. Meet me at the cafeteria during lunch today, we'll talk about things... okay, then..." 

The mercenary chuckled. "That'd be a wise gesture, friend of friends. I might just keep practicing with this nice new saber of mine, and somebody could REALLY get hurt if they happened to get in it's way." 

Agile gave a humorless laugh; it wasn't really that funny anymore. Humbled, he drearily walked out of Dynamo's quarters in bewilderment. 

_Well... during times of desperation, I guess you have to haggle with Satan a bit to get what you need..._ Agile thought. 


	19. Nocturnal Knights

**Chapter 19: Nocturnal Knights**

* * *

"I am the willow tree; lo me, and do not look in fear. The one you seek does not dwell within the realms of this Earth, but within your very soul. If one's soul is searched, one will discover life's true meaning and beauty, and will forever be saved from the anguish, pain and sorrow one would feel regularly. It will keep you secure for the rest of your days, even if it feels like it isn't there..." 

"Alright, buddy," interrupted Glacier Dragoon. "That's quite enough jabbering for one evening." 

Icarus sighed, pocketing his scrap of writing paper. "What is it? There something wrong with my poetry?" 

"No, not necessarily," he reasoned. "It's just that if you keep at this writing thing, I might end up murdering you and the rest of the people in this building, including myself. I've had to listen to it for the past two hours already." 

"Sheesh, so touchy," Icarus teased. "Alright, smart-ass, you got something better for us to do? If so, I'd like to hear it." 

"How about suicide?" Glacier moaned. He and Icarus had been hired by Cain to take care of a rather important and daunting task - standing (or sitting) guard in front of a large, steel-coated capsule. That capsule contained Vile, who had been isolated within it only a few hours ago. The room he was kept in was a small medical room somewhat close to the ward, but not close enough to be easily noticable. The doors were heavily locked, thoroughly preventing anybody from entering the room without proper verification. Every high-ranking official was given a keycard to enter the room in case of sudden emergency. 

The room itself was actually rather closed-in, with no real lighting besides the faint glow emitting from the capsule itself. The room also was without any kind of central heating, thus making the room much colder than it should've been. Though the two had been phased by the chilly air a bit when they had first begun their duty, the room temperature had become more standard now, since they had already gone through a full two hours of their guardship service. The problem now, however, was that they had absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the night. As much as Icarus would try, he still couldn't find something to occupy them both and manage to keep both of their sanity intact. 

"I could play my harmonica," he suggested weakly, holding up the tattered horizontal instrument. "I've learned a few more songs before we came here... you want me to play them for you?" 

"Dear Lord, no!" Glacier almost shouted. "I can't stand it when you play that thing. Sounds like a train running over a hog..." 

Icarus grimaced. "Alright, then. How about I sing a song?" 

"No." 

"Or try to rip out my own eyes." 

"No..." 

"Or we can try and see who can count to three the quickest!" 

"For the last time, _no_," Glacier moaned, bearing a tone of voice that he didn't take up very often. He was entertaining the thought of unleashing his sharp-as-hell claws and digging them into his partner's neck, but he ruled against the action. Icarus could be a total ass sometimes, but Glacier knew he had to learn to deal with it. 

The reploid in question huffed a bit, letting some of the cool air leave his body. "Fine, fine. You've taxed me, Glaish. I'll never understand you dragon reploid types... you never seem to want to do anything fun." 

Glacier raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'dragon reploid types?' I wouldn't say that you and I are very much different, Icarus. The only thing we really don't share in common is our body structure..." 

"Ghaaaa..." Icarus scoffed. "We differ quite a bit, my friend, and it's not just the fact that you don't have a gold thingy plated on your forehead like me." He rubbed his brow a little bit, feeling the lump that had been with him eternally. "But I don't really feel like going into it right now, since I'm a damned lazy bastardo." 

"Indeed," Glacier agreed. "Right now, though, all I want to know is who the prick was that decided to shove us into this job. Remember what Cain told us before? That stuff about 'choosing us for the sake of enhancing our skills further, as was suggested by an anonymous subordinate'? I'm still thinking about that..." 

His dull-grey Hunter comrade nodded. "I was kinda wondering about that myself. Though, considering the circumstances... I have _something_ of an idea of who it was. Still a little tentative, though..." 

This caught the Dragoon's attention. "Wha... you do? Who do you think it is?" 

Icarus smirked. "Not tellin', compadre," he said with a chuckle. "Not like it's really important... most likely to be completely wrong, actually. But maybe, in due time, you'll see what I'm hinting at." 

Of all things Glacier loathed about his friend's character, the thing he loathed the most was his uncanny ability to hide something from him. Icarus always loved expressing something that was on his mind, but when he had a secret, you could be sure that he'd keep it inside straight to the grave (well... if reploids had graves, per se). Knowing this well, Glacier decided wisely to not continue asking Icarus what was on his mind - he would never be able to worm it out of him. He chose to change the subject a bit. 

"And another thing," Glacier began again. "I heard Cain saying something about a third recruit helping us out with this whole guard thing about an hour into our duty. So where the hell _is_ this guy, anyway?" 

"Beats me," Icarus commented. "I don't think Cain really told us who he was - actually, as a whole, he really didn't clarify why we're doing this job. And Cain usually doesn't do that. Strange..." 

Before the two watchmen could ponder this any longer, a small beeping noise emitting from the entrance door caught their immediate attention. This little beep could only signal one thing - someone had inserted their keycard, and the door was opening up. 

"A visitor, eh?" Icarus said with interest. "Wonder if it's the new recruit." 

"Hopefully," was all Glacier felt like saying. As the door opened, the two could only see a duo of silhouettes - one a large, bulky figure, seemingly next to a must shorter, smaller and slender one. Though, when the two came in the limelight, the guards were horrified to see who they would be spending their time with. 

"Wa...Wiedl?" 

"That's right, elites!" the overzealous giant said in his usual mocking tone, slamming the steel door behind him. He stood beside the closed door of the room, bearing a huge, stupid teethy grin, which had become all too commonplace in the lives of the Hunters. He also seemed to be very jubilant about something, and carried a small leather bag in his left hand. Next to him was a boney, dark-haired young male with a hunched back and something of a frown planted on his face. It wasn't very hard to tell that he really didn't want to be there. 

Glacier just sat in motionless shock, paralyzed by the sight. "Wiedl... what're _you_ doing here?" 

The massive reploid chuckled. "Oh, just personal business, mind you. It was actually good 'ol Dr. Cain that sent me up here, just to make sure things are going well enough for you two... you guys don't think this job is too tough for ya, do you?" 

Icarus shrugged. "No... not really." 

"That's what I want to hear," he responded wryly. "Can't have recruits doing highly important jobs who aren't fit for them. Then the entire place'll crumble to the ground in a matter of seconds, and there's no way we would want that to happen... no siree bob..." 

"Alright, Wiedl, that's all very, very nice," Glacier voiced with distinct uninterest. "But we still have quite a bit of work to do around here, so how about you just make our lives easier by cutting to the chase? I can tell that you didn't just march on up here to 'check up' on us." 

Wiedl sighed a bit before continuing on. "Well... yes, there is more I'd like to say. You two, I'd like you to each meet Mr. Chase Simmons," he announced, placing a large (and seemingly unwelcome) hand on the shoulder of the hunched-over human next to him. "He's a recruit from the 14th Grapple Combat Unit... you know, those guys who're best at sockin' people rather than shooting or stabbin' them. Anyways, Dr. Cain told me that he's gunna be the third guard in this assignment, working alongside the two of you. Wave hello to the nice Hunters, Simmons!" 

The meager human looked up at the towering reploid with a look of confusion. "Wa... wave to them? Why do I need to do that...?" 

"Aww, ferget it..." Wiedl voiced with frustration. "Just come on in. I promise ya they won't bite or anything. Here, let's take a seat right over here..." 

The timid young human male did as Wiedl advised him to and took a seat on a small chair near Glacier and Icarus. As he sat down, he gave a wary look to both Glacier and Icarus, as if expressing feelings of distinct mistrust. Then, as if attempting to block out the others, he pulled out a small book and began reading intently. 

Icarus pondered this for a moment. "Hey, Wiedl," he called. "You said this kid comes from the 14th combat unit, right?" 

The ex-general nodded. "Indeed. Why do you ask?" 

"Eh... nothing. Just found it interesting," he replied with a tone of suspicion. Glacier figured that this was a clue of that whim Icarus had been talking about earlier; the Dragoon wanted badly to question him about it, but he was smart enough to restrain himself, as it wouldn't cause his ally to let on any further. Icarus was like that. 

Wiedl, who had promptly taken a seat on the cold, tiled floor, looked at the three with a beaming face. "Hey, elites," he said, using a phrase he enjoyed throwing around, "I've got some good news. Dr. Cain has finally appointed me to a rank!" 

Glacier's eyes widened with fear. "A... rank?" he asked shakily. "You mean you've attained some kind of militarial superiority now?" 

"Yep!" Wiedl announced with glee. "Cain's letting me help him out with some battle strategies and such. Of course, there'll be plenty of other Hunters helping him out with the exact same thing... and I'm not exactly sure how much say I'll have in his plans. But that's alright! At least I have some kind of worthwile occupation now. Seems like Cain is finally starting to trust me with more important jobs! This could be the beginning of a new era!" 

"Oh, a wonderful new era, indeed," Glacier said with a hint of sarcasm. He then directed his glance over to the young Chase, who was still reading his mini book. "You got anything to say, buddy?" 

Simmons didn't really look up. "No. I'm fine, thanks..." He began flipping through the pages a little more rapidly than before, as to create the illusion of being completely busy with his reading. Glacier figured it wasn't worth making the situation any worse; the young man obviously wasn't fond of their company. 

That was Glacier, though. "C'mon, son!" boomed an unyielding Wiedl. "No need to be shy, now! There something wrong with ya? You should be a little more sociable! Wouldn't hurt!..." 

"Wieeedl..." Icarus interrupted, while Chase looked up with a threatening glare. "I really don't think he wants to talk. Let 'em alone for now." 

"Oh... well..." he muttered, pausing for a moment; it seemed as if he was going to cut out the offensive. "Anyways, how long have you two been doing your guardwork, anyways? I'd like to see how much the two of you can truly endure. Important to know, always." 

Glacier, sighing a bit, answered. "A little over two hours." 

Wiedl rubbed his chin. "Hmm... not bad, guys," he replied. "Though we've still got some time left. But don't worry! I'll be sure to keep you company." 

Icarus and Glacier exchanged frightened looks. "Uhh... Wiedl?" Icarus asked cautiously. "What exactly do you mean, 'keeping us company'? Only Glacier, Chase and I are doing the guarding..." 

"Oh, indeed," Wiedl admitted. "But I don't think Dr. Cain would really mind it if I stuck around for a little while. Might be some good exercise for me... I haven't been able to do work like this since the first Maverick War!" 

Glacier nodded warily. "That so." 

"Yep!" he obliviously agreed. Then, with a look as if somebody had just poked his side, he reached over to his left and grabbed hold of the small leather baggie that he had brought in with him before. "I got a little treat for us," he said as he reached inside of it. After a bit of scrambling, he managed to pull out three small candies, circular and only a little bigger than a human fingernail. They each were hued dark blue, and were thickened from the sides. He earnestly opened the palm of his hand and showed them to Glacier and Icarus. 

Icarus eyed the objects with suspicion. "What in the hell-diddly-el are those?" 

"Pep candies!" Wiedl announced with pride. "Got 'em from the medical equipment area during cleanup, and I thought of you guys immediately. They're like regular pep pills, only designed for reploids only, and with a nice hint of blueberry flavor. C'mon, give it a try!" 

The two had to think about this. It was never really an intellegent thing to shove an unknown substance or food down your esophagus if handed to you by anybody untrustworthy, let alone a nutzo like Wiedl. But, then again, this apparently came from the medical ward, and really wouldn't be too dangerous. Right...? 

Icarus, being eons more risk-taking than his friend was, made a swift grab for one of the candies and placed it in his mouth almost immediately. "Heeeey... not bad!" he said after a few seconds of chewing. "Give it a try. Taste's pretty good." 

Though Glacier was never one to trust Wiedl, hereluctantly took one of the pills and ate them in a similar manner. He soon discovered that Icarus knew what he was talking about; though its taste was a little on the strong side, it was quite a good one, and lasted in his mouth for a pretty long while after swallowing. "Yeah... not bad," he chimed. 

"Thought so!" boomed Wiedl, who had already finished swallowing his piece. "Now that'll keep you up for a good long while, let me tell you..." He then turned to a dormant Chase. "Sorry, kid, but I couldn't find anything for you to have. You could try one of these pills if you like, but I don't doubt that it might have some nasty side effects..." 

"Naw, that's fine," Simmons responded with a bit of cheek. "I don't want to inject my body with that poisonus stuff, thanks..." 

"Erm... alright, then," Wiedl replied, feeling a little outspoken. He then turned back to the seated Hunter duo. "Well, it's gunna be a long night!" he began again, with the same limitless energy. "We'll need something to pass the time. I've got some great stories about when I was fighting in the Vietnam War..." 

Icarus blinked. "Reploids didn't exist back in the Vietnam days." 

Wiedl shrugged. "Whatever. They're all the same to me." 

* * *

Night. Darkness enveloping the entire world, creating an appropriate atmosphere for those who yearn for the comfort of their homes, whether it be some small, dank apartment building or a city street corner with a small area of reserve waiting for them. Wherever it happened, it was a time for a world to get some good rest after devoting about 16 hours of its life to doing work. 

However, the darkness of night provided housing for other elements as well. Nocturnal animals making about their nightly hunts and searchings. Insomniacs, incapable of sleep, walking the streets as if morning had already come hours ago. Teenagers, youthful and powerful, some staying away from the shackles of their homes and keeping solace in the authority the night gives them. Loners, wandering the city streets without a friend or family member staying by their side, wandering the darker parts of the city, looking for an answer... 

And, of course, there was the occasional mercenary or two. 

Looking down at that very same world was Dynamo, dressed in his usual battle attire, seemingly ready for almost anything. He wasn't exactly in a situation where it was appropriate to be goofing around; standing at the tippy-top of the base to his apparent "enemies", the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. There was certainly a mission at hand - a damned important one, too, as it would generally decide the ultimate fate of the Mavericks and the rest of the world as they knew it. But Dynamo wasn't thinking along those lines; to him, all he was really doing was busting down a door, pulling a helmetted hippy the hell out of there and running off to give it back to Agile and his Merry Men so that they could shove some screwdrivers in his head and send him out to blow numerous amounts of shit up. Not that he really had any difinitive opinion on the matter - he liked his new saber way too much, and had been farting around with it ever since he got it. 

The mercenary checked his watch. 2:00 AM... perfect. When Agile had briefed him about the mission, he remembered hearing him say that the best time for a covert operation in the Hunter HQ was at this time, since it seemed that no one would be wandering the halls at this hour, and some minor tests performed by former Mavericks have proved that security becomes much weaker at this point. It was time to get things done, and Dynamo knew as much. 

Leaping off the perch that had served him during his solitary vigil for the past few hours, he landed somewhat gracefully in front of a slanted window that resided near another perch on the HQ's left side. Peering in, he noticed that the room was placed in a smaller part of the medical ward, near a small and seemingly unenterable door, with very dim lighting as to serve as some kind of camaflauge. Staying on the safe side, he briefly took a look around the room, checking for any signs of life whatsoever. Luckily for him, there were none. Excellent. 

Keeping totally quiet, he pulled out his lightsaber and ignited only one edge, causing the pinkish pulsating blade to emerge from its cocoon. He then began to carefully carve into the window, which he soon discovered was surprisingly thick - extra layers for extra security, he figured. After carving a practically perfect circle through it, he pulled out the extra piece of glass and placed it on side perch, where nobody would be able to notice it. Before jumping in, though, he made note of the security camera to his left - that could cause him some problems, he figured. With his usual cautiousness, he pulled out the small arm cannon adapter he had used when opening the doors to Sigma's office not too long ago and fitted it on his right arm cannon. As accurately as possible, he aimed for the small wires that kept the camera functional and emitted an extremely concentrated laserbeam from his arm, damaging the wires and shutting down the machine. Dynamo figured that this was the best way of going about things; the beam was strong enough to dismantle the wires and prevent the camera from working properly, but not strong enough to knock the machine off of it's resting spot and cause it to fall to the ground and create too much noise. 

After finally taking care of the camera, he did his usual leap to the ground in the most graceful way he could muster, as to not create anything that would wake the others up. To his right, he could see something of a long hallway, lined with identical doors all the way down, a Red Cross adorning each of them. This was definitely the medical ward; but would it seem logical for Vile to be stored in a place like this? The area did seem more secluded from the rest of the base than usual... and Dynamo was getting an interesting feeling about the door to his right, which seemed almost totally sealed up. 

Then, Dynamo saw something he had totally missed when he had first peered into the room - in a small area to his right, next to the sealed door, sat a black-haired young woman wearing a large white-colored lab jacket that draped her entire body. As it seemed, she was hunched over and completely asleep - Dynamo had gotten lucky this time through. 

Suddenly, the mercenary got an idea. Being as cautious as possible, he walked over to the sleeping woman and attempted to pull of the lab coat. He had just about gotten it all the way of when - 

"Wh... zuh?" the girl moaned in a bit of confusion - she was still awake. Thinking fast, the mercenary rapidly pulled out a small bit of anesthetic and rubbed it against her mouth, causing her to gradually fall into a deep, deep sleep. "Pieeece 'o cake," he muttered happily to himself as he draped himself over with the large lab coat, concealing his true identity almost completely. The perfect crime. 

"Hmm... now for the door..." he muttered to himself again as he took a stance in front of the sealed door. "Seems to be locked, though there must be some way of getting inside..." He then noticed a small slot in the middle right of the door, which seemed to serve as some kind of cardkey adaptor. Searching around on his labcoat, Dynamo came out lucky and managed to find a small keycard in his chest pocket; he figured that the slumbering scientist he had downed held some kind of authority in the ranks of the Hunter medics. Hoping for luck to be on his side again, the white-haired mercenary inserted the card into the slot. Amazingly, a small 'beep' was sounded, and the door automatically opened the slightest bit. 

This was it - if this room was indeed the place where Vile was being stored, then he could mark this as one of the easiest missions he'd ever been assigned to carry out. Keeping his lightsaber battle-ready, he swung open the door in earnest to face any of the guards that would be stationed there. However, upon finally looking in the room, he was greeted with an entirely different spectacle; sure, there were guards, but they were sprawled on the ground, motionless, and making loud grunting noises, their eyes tightly closed. One was a mid-sized reploid dragon with blue armor and a large snout, another one with a humanoid frame and much thinner, and the last one ever so big with orange-yellow armor. He'd never seen any of them before, though he was quite surprised that Dr. Cain hadn't just played it safe and hired X and Zero to take care of the job. That is, if this was indeed the right room. 

Dynamo took a first look around the small room, noting immediately the large capsule in the middle of the room, which obviously contained something of medical importance - whether or not it contained Vile was beyond him. Before he could continue on, however, he happened to notice a young, scrawny-looking human Hunter that was approaching him. Not that it worried him or anything - he didn't look like much of a fight. 

"Uhh... I guess you're from the medical ward, eh?" the young human voiced weakly, giving the reploid a suspicious stare. 

Dynamo nodded, keeping his stature. "Indeed. I was sent here by Dr. Cain to take care of some medical... uh, work," he lied. "I'm just not sure of exactly where I'm going, y'see, since I'm kind of new to this building. Tell me, is that the capsule where that reploid Vile is being kept for the time being?" 

The Hunter, looking back at the capsule, nodded. "Yeah, that's the capsule. Why do you ask?" 

Yes! He'd found it so easily... "Oh... nothing. Just business..." he muttered in response. "Oh, and by the way... I hope you enjoy your sleep." 

"...sleep? Wha-" 

Before he could say anything more, Dynamo balled his right hand into a fist and gave the young human a good strong sockin' to the forehead, destroying every last bit of consciousness he had left in him almost instantly. He fell limply to the ground, unconscious and motionless, his eyes still wide open in complete shock. Piece 'o cake, just as he thought. 

Now, the time of business had arrived. Standing before the large steel-coated capsule, Dynamo had two options at hand; the conventional, sly way that would allow him to make off with Vile and do so without setting off the alarm, which would take quite a bit of time and thinking. Or, there was the quick, brutal way, in which Dynamo would bust Vile out without caring about the alarmm, and make off with him before the Hunters knew what hit them. 

Two words entered Dynamo's mind that immediately made the decision for him - _Screw it._

Using all of the force he had, the white-armored mercenary unsheathed his double-edged lightsaber and thrusted it into the steel capsule, breaking its fine structure. Immediately, as he had thought, the mighty alarm sounded... 

"ALERT... ALERT... POTENTIAL BREAK-IN IN ROOM 71109... MAVERICK HUNTERS, PLEASE REPORT TO ROOM 71109... POSSIBLE INTRUDER ALERT..." 

_Tee hee... this should be fun..._

* * *

"What the diddly-hell is that?" muttered a half-asleep X, looking up from the mattress that served as his nightly resting space. The room was turning a pale red, with a loud, booming voice sounding from the loudspeakers - 

"ATTENTION, ALL MAVERICK HUNTERS... INTRUDER ALERT... POTENTIAL BREAK-IN IN ROOM 71109... PLEASE CHECK-IN..." 

"Oh, friggin' wonderful..." he said to himself in a frustrated tone of voice. Taking no chances, he ran out the door as quickly as he could to make it to the medical ward in time. 

* * *

This was it - Dynamo had done it. 

Nestled in his right arm was the dormant body of a newly revived Vile, broken straight out of the capsule where he was originally kept in isolation. There wasn't much of a chance that he'd be waking up anytime soon, since the machine had apparently placed him in a complete state of dormancy. 

At this point, Dynamo knew he had to get out of the building, and fast. Using his uncanny ability to think quickly during times of extreme pressure, he bursted through the security door and headed straight for the large window which he had entered through previously. With utmost most grace and cautiousness, the mercenary proceeded to leap of of the ledge in front of the window, hurtling towards the ground below. Of course, Dynamo didn't really intend on ending his life by having a head on collision with the pavement, no no no... he was fully prepared for the worst. Using the wrist-com planted on his left wrist, he managed to teleport away from the area, Vile in tow, barely escaping a fate against the earth below him. 

Agile and the others would certainly be getting a little treat. Mission accomplished. 

* * *

"Oh, ye gods," exclaimed a disgruntled Dr. James Cain, staring at the horrific spectacle laid before him in the darkness of room 71109. The capsule that had previously held Vile in isolation had been completely bursted open, with a large hole carved right in front of it, obviously cut by a weapon of extreme power. All traces of the Boba Fett lookalike were nowhere to be found. Below the capsule lay the now-awakening bodies of Glacier Dragoon, Icarus, Wiedl, and Chase Simmons, having previously been conked out by some unknown force. 

X sat beside a struggling Glacier Dragoon, who now had most of his upper body off of the ground, and was trying desperately to sit up. "Gha... I don't know what happened," the dragon reploid said to his comrade. "All I can remember was staying up until at least one-thirty, and then everything's just blurred up after that. I'm not sure what knocked me out..." 

"Well, it sure as hell was somethin'," X stated in a convincing tone. "You guys seem pretty damned out of it, I can tell ya that. You sure you weren't just really tired from some kind of exercise, or took something beforehand, or something along those lines?" 

Icarus, who was now sitting up next to Glacier, thought back. "Actually, I think we did take something," he recalled. "Wiedl... Wiedl brought us something from the medical ward. 'Pep candies', he said they were. Supposed to keep us up during the night..." 

Cain, having heard Icarus's words, turned towards Wiedl. "Oh, no... Wiedl, you should've consulted me before taking those pills," he warned. "They were still under testing. Apparently, there had been numerous complaints that the pills had the exact opposite of the effect they were advertised to do - that is, they place you in an extremely deep kind of sleep. That's what caused the three of you to fall unconscious before Vile was abducted..." 

Wiedl chose not to say anything; rather, he just lay in place, wallowing in his own self-embarrassment. 

Zero looked down at the ground, a look of extreme upsetness planted on his face. "Friggin' wonderful," he muttered. "Does this mean that we're totally screwed over now?" 

Cain sighed. "Well, though the future does seem a little bleak, the situation isn't completely hopeless," he said with distinct worry. "What we know for sure now, though, is that somebody out there is very aware of Vile's power, and his determined to make it their own. I have very little doubts about who has committed this capture, but we still need to take some time to reorganize and form some sort of strategy. If we can't... well, then the ball's in their court, I guess." 


	20. "Return" of a Tyrant

**Chapter 20: "Return" of a Tyrant**

* * *

Agile didn't believe that he could run any further - three entire stories were indeed taxing, as there was usually an extensive (and seemingly unnessecary) amount of stairs separating all of them. But at this point, the violet X-Hunter could care less. There were too many joyous things on his mind. 

_Must get Sigma..._ were the words that ran through his brain as he rushed up the stairs. _Must get Sigma... and get him downstairs... see Vile, yes yes... no way he can resist that, no no no... ahhh, my legs, MY LEGS..._

What a quick and harmless victory it had been, indeed! After Dynamo had been sent out to Maverick Hunter Headquarters to locate and capture Vile, he had managed to complete the seemingly impossible job in a mere matter of hours, and managing to bring him back safely to Sigma's fortress without as much as a scratch on himself or Vile. And, it seemed as if the Hunters would never really be able to point a finger at the Mavericks - they had no solid evidence of their existence, after all, and Dynamo wasn't one to leave clues lying around (it wasn't like reploids had fingerprints). Now that Vile was in their captivity, his mind could be molded to their liking, and could be reborn to wreak havoc all over the world. A monster, really, with no emotion besides pure hatred for all things anti-Maverick... it would be just as Sigma had dreamed, maybe even moreso. If all went according to plan, the world would generally be in full Maverick command, without the plague of the human race would be gone forever... all due to the enormous latent power of "Omega" Vile. 

The trouble now, however, was getting Sigma back in the "mood" for the whole diabolical plan deal. And, though the story would sound promising, it may be harder for Agile than he would suspect. 

After a running session that lasted for what seemed like an eternity, the Maverick finally came across the place that he had been searching for - the long, familiar hallway which led directly to a disgruntled Sigma. Though Agile personally refused to believe the ridiculous rumors that flew about the fortress - ones that involved Sigma taking part in reploid sacrifices, knawing on goat flesh in a "desperate" search for food, and creating a miniature shrine to Axl Rose in the top drawer of his desk - he still was a wee bit nervous about how his disturbed superior would react to his presence there. After all, he had been cooped up for many a day, and he obviously wouldn't be in tip-top shape, speaking both physically and mentally. Though he was Sigma, however, and wasn't exactly known to be prone to stupid ailments like that. He was about to find out, though, has he was getting very close to where his Master rested. 

Ah, the door. Finally, Agile was face to face with each of them, both of which barred his Master from the outside world almost completely, had it not been for the little crack in the middle of each of them that had mysteriously expanded in width since Vile's revival. But it wasn't like an imperfection like that really mattered all that much; Agile was here for one purpose only, and that was to get Sigma to break out of his shell. 

"Master Sigma?" called the X-Hunter from the outside. No answer... well, that wasn't much of a surprise. "Sigma? Sir...? Are you in there, sir?" he called again; no response. 

Giving up on this approach, Agile attempted to take things to the next level and try opening the large doors himself. Taking a deep breath, he reached over to the doors with both hands and gave a mighty push. And, to his immediate surprise, the doors swung open very easily, almost hitting the inner walls. He glanced into the room, a look of confusion pressed on his face. 

_Well... that's odd..._ he thought. _Last time I was here, these things were impenetrable. Did Sigma get rid of it for some reason...?_

With caution, the lone Maverick entered the room in puzzlement. The room itself was surprisingly clean, despite the rumors that had been flying around throughout the fortress - files were placed where they were supposed to be, the floors were completely cleaned up, and the outside windows were sparkling clean. The room looked as if it were completely brand new. There was only one problem, though - laying spawled on the carpeted floor was none other than the Maverick tyrant, Sigma himself, in some kind of daze. He wasn't unconscious, or dead - just asleep, which could be determined by his loud, annoying snores. 

"Erm... sir?" Agile chimed silently to his fallen Master. "Sir? Wake up, Master Sigma..." he repeated. Both times, no response. 

Now it was time for physical action. Bending down to his commander's body, he reached a shaking hand towards his face. Before it could get too far, however, Agile noticed that the bald-headed Maverick's eyes were slowly coming open. Suddenly, his leader leapt up to his feet, yelling loudly and nonsensically, and scaring the hell out of the X-Hunter. 

"GHAAAAAA! Whuzaaa whuzaaa whuzaaaaaaa... JEEEEBUZ, whaaa? Who... what... when... where... why... how... what flavor of cheese... aghhh..." he muttered to himself as he caught his breath. He was now standing up fully, slouching his shoulders over, and giving the frightened Agile a suspicious glance. 

"Sir!" Agile shouted in dismay. "It's just me, sir! I'm sorry if I disturbed you sleep, Master, but I have something important to tell you..." 

Slowly, the calmness and coolness seeped back into Sigma's face, and he once again resembled the leader that Agile and the others had always known him to be. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he brushed himself off a little and looked back at his second-in-command with a grin. "Ahh, Agile... it's very nice to see you again," he said in a normal fashion. "I apologize dearly for the state of things in here... rather messy, I know." 

Agile looked puzzled. "Messy, sir?" he questioned. "It seems perfectly clean to me, sir. Did you tidy this place up during the past few days...?" 

Sigma, his brow furrowed a bit, surveyed the room himself. "Hmm... why, indeed, this room _is_ pretty nice looking, isn't it?" he stated with interest. "Must've done some cleaning lately... ugh, it's hard for me to tell anymore. I just haven't been myself lately..." 

"...sir?" Agile chimed in again. "What's been causing you trouble? Is it still the entire Vile incident...?" 

Sigma looked back with widened eyes. "The Vile incident...? Oh, no... not that," he replied casually. "No, it's been these pounding headaches I've been constantly getting while I've been locked away. Because of their persistence, I've been taking some pills to keep them at bay. So far, they've been working wonders, and would be a lot more useful if they hadn't had such annoying side effects... drowziness, and a minor loss of short-term memory. That's probably the reason why you saw me taking a nap just a second ago. Gotta hate those side effects... they've made me feel somewhat miserable lately." 

Agile nodded in remorse. "I'm very sorry to hear about that, sir. But I do have some information that'll lift your..." 

"You know, Agile," he interrupted suddenly. "During my time in here, I've had plenty of time to think about the entire situation involving Vile. I admit, when that pesky Maverick ran away in the state he was, I was terrified... so terrified, even, that I locked myself away from the rest of my loyal soldiers, forcing them to fend on their own without the guidance of their leader. You were one of those Mavericks, Agile... and I apologize for that. I see the error of my ways now..." 

"...erm, yes, thank you sir," Agile said again. "However, time is short, and I really need to tell you..." 

"I've been reborn, my friend," Sigma butted in again. "My insanity in a state of extreme pressure was wrong, completely wrong. I mean, we've been faced with incidents far worse than this in the past, but all Mavericks have remained loyal and strong, including me. My lack of determination and leadership casts a black cloud over me, and makes me feel horrible..." 

"...yes, I understand Master, but if you please..." 

"But I know what I need to do now, Agile!" he began once again. "Forget about getting Vile back... at this time, it would be too costly to search for him. No, what we must do is focus on making our own army stronger! Yes! If we have a strong force, it can easily overcome Vile, or any Hunter group for that matter. And with that power, we can recieve vengeance on both the humans and the Hunters! We can be come glorified and undefeatable! Just imagine it, Agile..." 

"But sir..." 

"This is like a blessing in disguise, Agile! We can rise to the top easily now! Terror shall reign throughout Terencse and the rest of the world, indeed. If we're able to strike quickly, we can attain a firm grasp on the free world, and mold it to our desires. We can do it, Agile!..." 

"SIR!" The X-Hunter exclaimed in frustration. 

Sigma glared at his subordinate with a bit of shock. "Err... yes, Agile?" he asked. 

"We don't need to go through an army fortification, sir," Agile told him. "We were just lucky enough to get Vile back." 

The Grand Maverick Commander stared at his comrade with sudden disbelief. His eyes were wide with shock. "Y... you were?" he muttered, bewildered. 

"Yes, we were... just last night," Agile stated. "It was done by one of the rookies... the rebellious one with the funny visor. We located Vile at the Hunter base, and that rookie was skilled enough to bust him out of there. We're very pleased with it, sir... and that's why I came up here to talk with you." 

Sigma, still in sudden shock from this turn of events, scratched his head and looked back at Agile. "You really did...? Oh, well... that's nice, I guess..." 

Agile looked at his leader with confusion. "Err... well, aren't you happy about this, sir? I mean, we have an edge over the Hunters now, and we can finally recieve vengeance on them using Vile's latent power. We can create OmegaVile, the invincible destroyer of the human race, just as you had always dreamed about. You should be ecstatic..." 

"Oh, I'm happy, Agile... very much so," Sigma replied with a bit of saddness. "I guess it's just that, well... I kinda liked the idea of creating an invincible army, and triumphing over adversity... y'know, proving myself as a strong leader, and redeeming myself... it was all really exciting, y'know, filled me up with a sense of determination. But now, with Vile 'n all..." 

The X-Hunter nodded in partial agreement. "Well, sir, nobody said that you couldn't fortify the army..." 

"Oh, there's no time for that NOW!" Sigma almost shouted. "Forget all of that fortification bullplop... urgh, I guess I'll never experience that great leadership feeling. Oh well... c'mon, Agile, let's go take care of Vile..." With that, the Maverick leader finally stepped out of his abode, slowly ambling down the red carpeted hallway looking completely crestfalled. It was a bit of an awkward sight. 

Agile sighed silently. Sigma had returned to power... that was a good thing, right...? 

* * *

M-24 surveyed the masterful sight before him - he had been recovered... at last, he had returned. 

"Betcha Sigma is gonna be happy when he sees this beauty," a tan-colored technician called to him from across the room. "Guess that Dynamo guy really knew what he was doin', eh?" 

"Guess so," the chief Maverick mechanic responded. After what seemed like an eternity of worry and uneasiness that had spread throughout the halls of the Maverick Fortress, finally, the dream that Sigma and the rest of the Mavericks (well, sort of) had invisioned could be brought to the realms of the real world. Laying dormant as he had before was Vile (or Sunshine, or OmegaVile, or... whatever), on top of a large laboratory table. Dynamo, the rookie that had previously been totally uninterested in almost all Maverick ctivities, had somehow managed to break out the villan-gone-astray without recieving as much as a scratch. The technicians had just started working on things that morning, and Agile and the others wanted to keep things somewhat isolated until later. So, obviously, they figured the story would be all over the building by at least noon. 

The other technicians hovered over Vile's body, which had been stripped of it's Maverick insignia and it's trademark shoulder cannon. Agile and the others were pretty positive that this had been the result of Vile's rebellious nature, and the technicians didn't doubt that for a second. 

M-24 then decided that it was time to finally get things going. "Alright, then," he began. "I'm going to start this reprogramming with a full body examination, to make sure that his systems are still stable and functioning properly. Then, we can continue on with an examination of the cranial area, where we can finally start with the reprogramming process. We might need to wait for Agile or (if we're lucky) Master Sigma to come down here and give us some guidance, but for the mean time, let's just continue on with what we do routinely. Let's see... I think we should start with the torso, and then..." 

"Er... sir?" a voice interrupted from the other side of the room. It came from a younger blue-colored reploid who had been standing in front of Vile's skull and had been observing it awkwardly. 

M-24 looked up. "Uhh... yes, is there a problem?" he responded. 

The technician kept his gaze directed to the inner part of Vile's helmet. "Ohh... nothing important, I think. I just see an awkward object in this helmet thingy..." 

"...awkward object?" M-24 questioned with concern. "Well... what does it look like...?" 

The reploid observed the inside even moreso. "Uhh... kinda like a jewel." 

"Hold on... let me take a look at it," M-24 responded hurridley, walking over to the upper area of Vile's structure and glancing in on his helmet. "Where is it again?" 

The young technician extended a finger. "Right here," he directed, pointing at the area near Vile's left eye. Looking underneath, M-24 could clearly see what he was talking about. It was a tiny, silverish object that resembled something of a gem. Though on normal circumstances, and object such as this could easily be considered just some kind of screw or bolt, but being in the position it was in, it didn't seem to be very logical. Being as cautious as possible, the lead technician reached his hand in and pulled out the tiny object, observing it in his hand. 

"Oh, jeez... don't tell me..." he muttered to himself silently, a look of despair on his face. It all seemed to add up... numbers encrypted on the backside of it, with a set of very small attatchment hooks on the back and a brutally familiar insignia printed on the front. It had to be a... 

Without any hesitation, the normally calm Maverick clasped his hand around the tiny jewel of defeat and promptly crushed it beneath his fingers, ultimately destroying the thing and preventing it from causing any more harm. But what more harm could it cause now...? 

"Err... 24?" asked the other technician, who had obviously been a bit surprised by their boss's brutishness along with all of the others. "Why were you so quick to destroy that little thing? What was it?" 

Before responding, the Maverick opened his hand and let the little computer chips wall lifelessly to the ground, now bent and broken. He glanced back up at the others with a look of distinct fear on his face. 

"I've... seen things like those before," he replied shakily. "That... that thing wasn't part of Vile's structure, no no. It... it was a tracking device." 

* * *

_Damn, damn, DAMN. I knew it. I knew this would happen, I knew this would happen, I KNEW this was gunna happen..._

X's mind was repeating the same haunting message over and over again, which had been lasting since the previous evening. It was noon now, and he had not gotten any kind of sleep since 2 A.M. - how could he? Vile had been captured out of the blue that night, causing ruckus and panic to spread throughout the entire building, with normally collected Hunters praying for their lives and writing thier wills early on. This was somewhat justified, however - people already knew damn well about the amount of power Vile had previously possessed, as some of the older Hunters had remembered clearly how the disturbed Maverick had offed many, many of their own kind, a glaring mistake that still confused them. But they certainly did know that they didn't want another one terrorizing them once again. 

There were three seats to X's left, with three other people sitting in them; Zero, who had been somewhat silent since the incident but much more talkative and calm than X; Dr. Cain, who sat furthest from X, and had been surveying the large group of people before him; and, to X and Zero's disgust, the bothersome Wiedl, who sat rather uncomforatbly on the chair between Zero and Cain. Why he had been called into that particular position, X didn't quite know; however, he knew that if Wiedl actually earned Dr. Cain's full trust, all hell would break loose. There was also a grouping of chairs to X's right, which consisted of all of the other Unit commanders, from the 1st to the 16th, along with some medical and technical staff. X, Zero, and all of the others were seated in the building's auditorium, where most public announcements and meetings were usually held. They sat on a large stage that overlooked the immense amount of seats before it. Cain had called in the entire building to attend this announcement - it may have been the most important one he would give. 

X could hear Zero talking with Cain, as he waited for everyone to file in. "You positive you wanna go through with this, doc?" he asked with concern. "I mean, you sure you're not rushing this thing to much...?" 

Cain rubbed his chin. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I can't really think of much else to do," he replied. "Vile's been captured by people we know practically nothing about, and according to the emergency tracking device we'd planted on him, he's been taken to that exact same location that we had suspiciously discovered not too long ago. It was that structure in the middle of the desert outside of Terencse... I believe that's the one that Wiedl told you about not to long ago, correct?" 

Glancing at Wiedl, who at the time seemed to be falling asleep once again, Zero remembered fully about what he had told him about the fortress. "Yeah, I remember," he said remorsefully. "So generally, when we make this thing a-go, we'll have no concrete idea what we're rushing into?" 

Cain nodded with a bit of self pity. "Unfortunately, yes." 

"Well, la-de-frickin'-da," Zero muttered, as he turned to his azure partner. "Whadda 'bout you, X? You think this whole invasion thing is a good idea? You haven't seemed to utter a peep since the whole thing happened." 

X shrugged, looking downwards. "Dunno... I'm still kinda unclear of what's going on," he replied. It wasn't a total lie; it wasn't easy to listen to exactly what Cain was going to be doing now, as the Hunter had been frought with sudden worry ever since the kidnap. He knew perfectly well what had happened, though, and had no doubt in his mind who had done the deed - Mavericks. Screw it being done by anybody else; it could only be done by Mavericks, maybe even including Sigma, who tried to revive Vile but failed miserably at doing so. The kidnapping could've easily been their doing, what with the 'spy' he caught sight of. The thief was probably sent to make up for their past mistakes... it all added up. And it wasn't just the evidence that sealed his theory - it was something that he couldn't really put his finger on, something he felt inside... intuition, perhaps, he couldn't tell. He also knew that, though he couldn't read his mind, Zero felt the same way he did. 

The Crimson Hunter in question tapped his foot a few times, signifying a nerved lack of patience. "Hey, doc. We startin' this thing already?" he asked. "Seems like pretty much every seat is filled up." He sounded as if he wanted to get things over with as quickly as possible. 

Cain looked over the many seats before them, and then looked back at his watch. "Hmm... yes, I figure that there are more than enough people here already. We should get things started then..." 

Pulling out a pile of neatly-stacked papers, the elderly doctor lifted himself up from his seat and took a firm stance behind the podium beside him. Shuffling and organizing his papers a bit, he began to speak to his audience, causing them all to fall silent almost at once. 

"Good afternoon, esteemed Maverick Hunters and Huntresses. There have been quite a bit of unexpected and shocking events that have unfortunately occured here in this building. At this time, I'd like to clear up all of the rumors that have been needlessly spread around by lord knows who, and therefore clear the air. I know that there are some of you with a rather short attention span, so I'll try to sum things up as briefly as possible. 

"As all of you probably know by now (and _have_ known for quite a while), we've had some very... erm, 'interesting' occurances which have involed a former Hunter and Maverick, Vile. He was revived by an unknown force and somehow managed to find his way back into the city, and eventually to our front door. However, Vile had undergone some serious changes, the most noticable being his pacifistic nature and his constant chivalry and kindness towards others, human or machine. When found like this, the others and myself were partially convinced that his embodiment of purity was nothing more than a clever scheme to catch us off guard and then attack, most likely devised by Mavericks. However, we could clearly see that Vile's change was not a decision that he made consciously - mental problems occured almost routinely with him, and therefore warranted him an examination. After the testing was done, it was then clear what was wrong with Vile, which involved an advanced program I planted in him after his first rampage way back when. The Maverick had now been infected with the program in his brain only, not in his power capabilites. So, in short, Vile certainly had the capabilities of destroying all of us easily, but did not possess the will to do so... quite the contrary, actually. 

"But this is, apparently, what warranted his kidnapping. Last night, he was placed in an isolated capsule and hidden in an area we thought would be safe for him. However, due to unexpected circumstances, our assigned guards were put temporarily out of commision, and somebody managed to sneak in through a window near the room. These people obviously want to bring Vile back to his old self - though details are fuzzy, that's the best theory we can devise. After his kidnapping, with the help of a bug we planted on him, Vile was tracked to a barren location in the middle of a desert outside of Terencse. We had located this fortress not to long ago, but had not believed that it posed a significant threat. We know that Vile was also reactivated at this place as well, however, as before Vile's appearance there had been a strong energy reading there. 

"Now, I know what most of you are probably thinking - that this was the work of Mavericks. While this is indeed a plausible belief, we cannot jump to conclusions at this time. What we're forced to do, however, is take action - something must be done to protect not only our own safety, but that of the entire world. Therefore, an invasion of the fort will begin tomorrow afternoon, at 1500 hours (uhh... 3:00, for those confused) sharp. The main invasion force will consist of three units: the 17th Elite Unit, the 0th Special Unit, and the 14th Grapple Combat Unit. Because of the shortage of Hunters as a result of the Doppler incident, these three Units will be combined, with all three commanders at the helm of the attack. The other Units assisting will be the 8th Armored Division, the 4th Overland Unit, the 12th Combat Assistance Unit, and parts of the 7th Air Cavalry. The other Units not involved with this invasion will stay here and provide technical assistance with me and the rest of the staff. We must keep the building safe as well, and we will be enforcing a stronger defense force. 

"I'm sorry if this course of action seems a little hasty, but we can't just sit around and do nothing - these people mean business, and need to be stopped as soon as possible. So, for the rest of the day, I encourage all active Unit commanders to train your recruits as much as possible for the following attack - I have a feeling this won't be a walk in the park. 

"In closing, I'd just like to say that these past days have certainly taxed us physically and emotionally, and I have a feeling that the next few days won't be any different. However, I have full confidence in the effort and determination of this organization, and I know that this problem can - and will - be neutralized and ultimately stopped before it can cause any real harm. We've been under rough times such as these in the past, and have managed to overcome our adversaries. I have no doubt that we can do the same now. I appreciate all of you for meeting here with me today. Thank you." 

Taking a breath, the doctor picked up his papers and stuffed them back into his coat pocket. Stepping down from the podium, he could hear all of the audience simultaneously clapping and cheering, though they were still probably in a state of shock from what had been said. Cain signalled to the others, which was their cue to leave the stage. 

As they filed out in silence, Cain came up to where X and Zero were walking. "You two," he stated calmly. "I'd like you to meet with Magma Dragoon and I tonight to discuss battle strategy for tomorrow. Let's say around... eight. Are you alright with that?" 

Zero nodded. "Yeah... we're good. See you then." 

"Indeed," was all Cain said before walking back to the hallways. Zero turned to his friend with something of a smirk on his face. 

"We're working with Magma. That should be interesting," he remarked. 

"Heh... I guess so," X replied listlessly. Tomorrow would indeed be a rough day... 


	21. Standin' on the Edge

**Chapter 21: Standin' on the Edge**

* * *

_April 17th, 21XX _

Well, I can now safely say that things've changed quite a bit since last I wrote (which I realize was almost a week ago, wasn't it...?). 

At this time of writing, almost the entire building is wrought with sudden happiness and youthful joy, which causes a healthy de-throning of the previous regime of fear, saddness, and consistent suicide attempts. And why, you ask? I'll tell ya why - Vile, that little plastic soldier fellah that Sigma repeatedly soiled his pants over for no good reason, was returned safely back to this godforsaken building. Now the Mavericks can take the little guy and do whatever they want with him, without having any fear of the Hunters converting him into one of their own. 

And who did all these nice things for them? Well, me, of course. Pardon my cheekiness. 

The operation worked out easily enough for me. I mean, I've done plenty of so-called 'spywork' during my years as a mercenary, and even more covert operations requiring a break-in or capturing of some kind. And Hunter security isn't any prize - not nearly as secure as some people would have you believe, really. When that purple guy, Agile, asked me to assist him with the job, I wasn't exactly willing to take it with any kind of enthusiasm. I mean, this was MHHQ, a place that could take eons to bust into. So I held out for a little while and decided to do some haggling with him, to my luck. Since he was no longer a combat Maverick, he was actually quite willing to fork over his prized double-edged beam saber over to me. Apparently, the goof only really used the saber against X during the second uprising, and was only skilled enough to use one side of it. I find that amusing... the thing is pathetically easy to use, actually, even with both edges activated. It also has this nifty magnet ability that lets it return directly back to the person who threw it, like a boomerang. I guess the job was actually worth it... 

Oh, and not only that, but Agile also told me about how the other rookies - you know, those freakish animal things that I 'trained' with - were sent to do a covert scanning of the town in search for Vile. When they did so, however, they managed to screw the whole thing up royally by being spotted. Oh, and it wasn't just any old person they baited - it was X, actually. These people are seriously beginning to worry me with their incompetence - I mean, when I came here, I was just not very fond of the Maverick organization, though I knew very well that they were a force to be reckoned with. But lately, well... I just haven't been that impressed. Agile, Sigma and the others actually haven't taken notice of some unplanned blunders I've pulled off, like during the entire folder-snatching incident. Anybody could just walk up there and take their share of information, regardless of how important it was. I mean, what are these people thinking_, I pray thee...? _

Oy... my head. I keep on thinking that there's something important I'd like to change about this entire situation, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I mean, there some things that are blatantly obvious, but those are too minor to worry about. It feels like there's something pulling at my brain... something I've been dying to do for years but I haven't really had the guts to do. But still, it's not clear... 

Dynamo paused for a moment, unable to think of anything else sensible to write down. He'd been sitting alone in his dormitory for hours now, and had recently started writing in his journal. For some reason, he could feel hinself entering into something of a brainspew-ish mode, in which he began to write things he either didn't mean or didn't really think of normally. It happened when once in a while during a writing session, and Dynamo had something of a disliking of them, since there were many things in his mind that he would like to keep there securely. 

After recollecting himself, he continued. _Anyways, I managed to get that damned file Mercutio was so anal about the last time I had a chat with him. Kind of funny when I got it, as it was just kinda laying outside of Sigma's office inside of a pile filled with other ones. Pretty lucky on my part, if you ask me. _

Now, the only problem I have with this whole 'find the file' thing is the general purpose of the mission itself. I've read through all of the papers in that folder already, and I can't find a single one that has any kind of importance... maybe Mercutio is starting to lose it, or something. It's kind of weird that he never actually told me why I was looking for this godforsaken scrap of in the first place - I mean, he never usually keeps that kind of stuff from me when he assigns me something. Maybe this is why I'm starting to think differently about him and everybody else I'm affiliated with... what kind of important purpose do they serve, anyway? 

"Oy VEY..." Dynamo almost shouted, letting go of his pen once again and tapping himself softly on the head with his knuckles. He wasn't exactly angry with the words he was writing down, but rather the feeling he was getting while writing them. It was sort of like being intoxicated, just not as bad; in layman's terms, in was an 'out of it' feeling. 

Thinking this through, the grey-armored mercenary shut the book tightly, letting it fall to the mattress he sat on. Giving it time would probably be the best thing for him to do; he could tell that now was definitely not a great time for him to be writing, for some reason. Maybe he could go out and get some fresh air, or something of the sort... anything he could think of to get himself out of his sudden funk. 

Cracking his neck a little bit, Dynamo lifted himself up from the mattress, grabbing his new double-edged lightsaber off of the ground. Keeping a firm grip on it with his right hand, he began to head for the exit when a faint yelling noise could be heard coming from the other side of the room: 

"Dynamo!" it shouted. "Dynamo... do you read me?" 

The mercenary was paralyzed with shock. He recognized the partially British voice immediately - that person calling could be none other than... 

With sudden adrenaline, Dynamo dashed towards his bed, reaching under it and pulling out the handheld communication device he had always kept with him. Frantically, he took his original seat on the mattress as he did before, pulling the comm in front of his mouth. 

"Mercutio," he responded to his boss, "Dynamo here... I read ya loud and clear." 

"Oh, good..." the authoritative human said back with relief. "I was getting afraid that you were in the middle of something important when I contacted you." 

"Oh, not at all, sir," Dynamo replied. "I never take this walkie-talkie thing around with me normally. I usually keep it hidden in here..." 

"Well, that's a very smart move on your part, Dynamo," Mercutio stated. "Where exactly are you now? I don't want anybody listening in on this conversation, you know." 

"My dorm," Dynamo hastily responded. "Nobody can hear us, trust me. The door is locked, and the windows're shut tight." 

"Alright then, let's get down to business... I've been hearing a great deal of reports lately involving a break-in at Hunter Headquarters. I'm having suspicions that this was done by the likes of Mavericks, but I'd like to hear it out of you. Do you know what happened, exactly?" 

Dynamo gulped a bit at this remark. He knew that if he told Mercutio that it was he who commited the essential deed for the Mavericks, his boss would not be very happy about it. Thinking fast, he decided to somewhat avoid talking about who released Vile, with hopes that the human would'nt think about it twice - and if he did happen to bring it up, he'd just lie. 

"Well, the break-in actually relates to the incident involving Vile's escape," Dynamo explained. "You see, after Sigma decided to barricade himself from the rest of the universe, Agile and the other X-Hunters took over all operations here temporarily. One of their first actions was to deploy some spies to search Terencse and pinpoint Vile's location, and to execute this, they chose three rookies who were pretty willing to do the job. One of them found out that Vile was training at the Hunter HQ, so they sent a solo spy to break him out of there at nightfall. They just recently managed to get him back, and they have very ambitious plans in regards to his power." 

Mercutio paused solemnly for a moment. "Guess they've finally gotten some power on their side, rather than the usual crap they dish out," he commented. 

"Yeah, I guess," Dynamo half-heartedly agreed; Mercutio was one to always underestimate the Mavericks' power, for some reason. "I figure that the Hunters'll catch on about this whole thing soon enough, though. There always seems to be some way for them to figure out exactly what the Mavericks are planning on doing next, no matter how obscure the evidence is." Dynamo never actually considered the fact that a blunder he possibly could have made had graced the Hunters with substantial evidence, but who was he to really care? 

"Yeah, I'd have to agree with that logic," Mercutio responded. "Do the Mavericks have much of a clue as to what the Hunters've been up to lately?" 

"Hmm... naw, not really," Dynamo answered. "All that they really know about the Hunters as of now is that they had Vile, and may have been planning to do something with him. Otherwise, I don't think that they really know anything of the sort." 

Mercutio chuckled a bit at that. "I'm not very surprised," he commented snidely. "I guess they never really thought that through. Maybe they should've hired some more reliable people to do their spywork, eh?" 

"I guess so," Dynamo agreed again, realizing that he was partially insulting himself. "But I don't think they really care about that stuff anymore." 

"Well, then let's just get our minds off of the Mavericks for a little while," Mercutio continued, obviously wanting to get down to more serious business (well, business that he personally considered serious). "There's a lot of other things that we seriously need to discuss..." 

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Dynamo agreed, now sounding a bit nerved. There was that feeling again... that same feeling he had gotten when he had finished writing in his journal just minutes ago. He knew that Mercutio was going to ask him about that damned file, and if Dynamo told him that he found it, well... 

"I remember something we discussed several days ago, during our last talk," his boss began, "involving you searching for that old file Doppler and Sigma had chosen to store away during the last Maverick Uprising. And, as I may have feared, you were unable to get a hold of that particular file." He cleared his throat a bit, letting his words sink in. "Now, it really doesn't matter what kind of excuses you could come up with, Dynamo, but that was most certainly an example of your own incompetence, which surprised me quite a bit as you're usually perfectly competent when sent on an important mission. So then, Dynamo, could you please enlighten me about how you executed the rest of your mission...?" 

Yup, this was it... no avoiding it now. Pausing for a moment, Dynamo reached for the large file that he had been trying to get a grab at for quite a long time - ever since he'd been at the fortress, to be precise. Could he really throw it all away, just like that, in a few words? Staring at that file, he could sense the feeling he had experienced before starting to seep back in again, like some kind of poison... it altered his thoughts, blocking out reason, and causing him to have a sudden change of thought that would either saved him or destroy him right then and there. What would he say now?... 

"Dynamo?" called the voice on the other line once again, sounding a bit impatient. "Are you still there?" 

"Err... uhh... yes, sir!" Dynamo responded, snapping back to attention. "Sorry about that, I was just... um... just daydreaming a bit." 

"Whatever," Mercutio spat off. "I've got no time for daydreams, Dynamo. Just tell me - do you have that file or not?" 

"NO," Dynamo almost yelled out, surprising himself beyond all limits. "I... I don't have it..." he muttered. What was he doing? 

Mercutio paused for a moment, obviously in a small state of shock. "WhosajiggaWHA? You... you _what_...?" 

"I don't have it," Dynamo repeated. "It... it was destroyed, actually. Yeah... I was too late, I guess. When I identified the file, it was in shredded pieces, completely unreadable..." 

"You're kidding me," Mercutio continued, still in a complete state of shock. "Why the hell would they shred a file like _that_?" 

"How should I know?" Dynamo snapped back. "I just found the thing that way. The right number and everything... only the folder itself was intact. Everything inside of it was completely destroyed..." 

"DAMN! I should've known they would do that!" Mercutio shouted into the comm. "I bet they knew somebody was onto them, so they got rid of the thing. Of all the bad luck..." He paused for a moment. "You see what I mean, Dynamo? Had you picked up that damned thing earlier, we wouldn't be in this stinkin' mess!" 

Now the mercenary was starting to get pissed off. "Wait a sec. How do you know this is _my_ fault? They could've easily destroyed that thing way before I stormed my ass into here. And even if they hadn't, how would they know that I was searching for it?" 

"Well, you probably screwed up and left some sort of marks!" Mercutio boomed. "When you went in there the first time, Sigma probably found out about it one way or the other and destroyed it. You obviously weren't doing your assigned duties..." 

"'Assigned duties' me arse, buddy," Dynamo interrupted. "And what's all of the importance around this stupid file thing anyways? You never actually told me anything about it, so why the hell should I go looking for something if I have no idea what it is?" 

"Forget about that!" the human exclaimed. "That's none of your concern, Dynamo. You're just there to get the thing, and I'm here to actually use it. You don't have the right to question my orders." 

"Whatever, whatever," Dynamo let off, lowering his voice a bit but still pretty angry. "All I know is that it seems like you're making some big stupid fit over absolutely NOTHING AT ALL, and you're gettin' all pissed off at me. It seems like I'm always on the butt end of all your stupid-assed 'missions', and I'm starting to get tired of it." He brushed his right thumb over a small white button near the bottom of the walkie-talkie. "I think I'm just gonna end this little chat right now..." 

"What the - no!" Mercutio shouted from the other end. "You are NOT turning this thing off, Dynamo, if you have any hopes of staying in this organization left." 

"I fail to see the threat, Mercush," he mocked. 

"Listen," Mercutio continued, his tone of voice slowly rising. "You press that button, and believe me, it's over for you. But if you've got that file with you, somewhere, then we will find you out sooner or later, and you'll be in quite an undesireable position, my friend." 

"That's enough, Mercush... ta ta," the cocky mercenary finished, tapping his finger on the small circle just enough so that the transmission was completely disabled. Then, he surprised himself once again by pulling out his saber, igniting one end, and thrusting the pulsating blade straight through the middle of the communicator, slicing it completely in half. The two pieces fell lifelessly to the floor, both emitting a loud crackling sound as they contacted it. They crackled on for a few more moments before finally going dead, preventing any future conversations on the thing or the rest of Dynamo's days. 

Finally, after all of the shock and the surprise had completely worn of, Dynamo realized that what he had just done was something he had been wanting to do for quite a long time. Though he may not have realized it at the time, the young mercenary had pretty much everything heneeded to do totally planned out in his head... it was almost like he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Those two broken pieces on the ground represented a new beginning for Dynamo that day, and he knew it. 

Thinking about this, he opened his journal once again, flipping back to the page where he had left off. In it, he finally finished off his daily entry: 

_Maybe what I'm looking for is closer than I actually realize... it could be right under my nose. _

Catch you later- 

Dynamo 

* * *

Magma Dragoon surveyed the small meeting room with the corners of his eyes, realizing how utterly cramped in the place was. Not that it really bothered him that much, since he really wasn't claustrophobic or anything... he just found it to be kind of awkward that Cain would choose such a run-down place to stage an important meeting with three of the most elite Hunter Units. It made him feel a bit unimportant, and he hated that feeling in all of it's forms. 

"JEEBUS, is it cramped in here!" whined X, who unlike Dragoon disliked small spaces with a passion. He sat in a tiny chair in between Magma and Zero, both of which almost having their faces smooshed against the wall because of the space shortage. 

"I don't know what _you're_ complaining about, Mr. Pansy Boy," Zero snapped, obviously in something of a sour mood. "You aren't slammed against a wall like Magma and I." 

"Well, I'm kinda squeezed in the middle here! It's not like I have any more space than you do," X snapped right back. The room was certainly small, with an extremely limited amount of space between the three commanders and the walls. It obviously wasn't a very comfortable position to be in. 

"Well, Cain could of at _least_ done something with the lights," Zero commented. "I mean, look at the things. They're all flickery and screwy... I can hardly see a friggin' thing." 

"Just deal with it," X replied. "Cain'll be here pretty soon, and he'll probably have some kind of explanation for all of this. He usually does..." 

"Well, if he knows what's good for 'em, he will," the Crimson One barked. "According to my watch, it's well past eight already... where is that guy?" 

X scoffed. "Since when has that watch been reliable? The thing's busted... you've been carrying around for years. Remember that time we were an hour late for that meeting with Cain during the last war because that watch conked out on us at the last minute?" 

Zero shuddered at the memory; that wasn't an easy morning for them. "That was just a complete fluke!" Zero claimed in defense. "My watch was just having an off-day, I guess... it usually works perfectly fine." 

"Yeah, right," X said snidely. "So then I guess that thing wasn't responsible for the three other meetings you were late for?" 

Zero rested a hand on his palm, looking the other way. "Well, I... shut up!" he muttered angrily, involuntarily admitting defeat. It was something that Zero never really did with much grace. 

Suddenly, the small door in the corner of the room swung open, almost slamming against the other wall. Magma, X, and Zero all looked over to see the respectable Dr. Cain shuffling in, a support cane in his left hand and a few papers in his right, which was how Cain happened to look almost all of the time. Following right behind him was the ever persistent Wiedl, who strolled on in with a wave to the three commanders. The trio all grimaced at the same time, though the massive 'ploid couldn't see that. 

"Hello, everyone," Cain greeted, pulling up a chair from the front of the room. "My apologies for not arriving here a little earlier, but Wiedl here and I had to go over some battle plans for tomorrow..." 

"Wait just a sec," Zero interrupted. "You're telling me that _Wiedl_ is going to be helping us out with battle strategies?" 

Cain narrowed his eyes a bit in confusion. "Erm, well... yes, he is. Is that a problem with you, Zero?" 

"Oh no, not at all, doc..." Zero went on, lying through his teeth. "I was just a little... err, curious. That's all..." 

"I've got somethin' of a problem with it..." muttered Magma Dragoon silently from the other side of the room. He had kept something of an uninterested expression on his face the entire time, but hadn't said anything to anybody yet. This was the first time he had really spoken. 

Cain looked over to the dragon reploid with concern. "Magma," he asked, "what was that you just said?" 

The Dragoon scratched the back of his neck nonchalantly. "Nothing," he said, louder this time. "I just personally find it a little awkward that you're having some guy who's spent his time in an underground office since the second uprising 'help us out' with important military strategies like these. How can you tell that he's really reliable enough to work on an important mission like this?" He made a swift glare at Wiedl, snorting out his nose a bit with dissaproval. 

Cain paused for a moment. "Well, Magma, I can certainly understand your concern. However, I believe that Wiedl here had proven himself to bean extremely dependent and hardworking ally during these rather harsh weeks. He's also a former general, you remember, so he's already well versed in combat strategies, and he's being reading op on them for quite a while now. I believe that, if all of you are willing to welcome him here, that we'll all be able to work well together as a team." 

Magma huffed a bit, remembering coldly that Wiedl was actually part of the reason Vile got snatched in the first place. "Fine, then." 

Wiedl, acting as if he were bathed in glory, beamed a large cocky smile. "Don't worry 'bout a thing, guys!" he belted out. "I'll be sure to tell ya some great battle strategies against those Irregies, or whoever you're gunna have to fight." 

Cain nodded in agreement, obviously overlooking the utter disdain in the faces of both X and Zero. "Yes, but before we begin, I'd like to apologize to all of you for the immense lack of space in this particular room. Most of the other formal meeting rooms are under renovation, and are certainly in no condition to be used." 

X shrugged. "Whatever, doc. I'd just like to get this meeting over with... I'm gunna need all the sleep I can get t'night." 

"As we all do, X," Cain reminded him. "Don't worry, this won't drag on for too long. Wiedl, why don't you start us off?" 

"Will do, doc," the ex-general responded with his usual gusto. "We're gunna need to elaborate everything a little bit for the three of you, so we'll need a diagram of the attack in itself. Lesee..." Turning around, he searched frantically for something to write on, finally discovering a discarded piece of cardboard near the back of his own chair. He then picked it up and displayed it to the three, drawing out a marker. 

"Alright, then," he said as he began to draw. "First off, let's draw the fortress... that'll be this big circle at the top here. Next, we have the Units, and their placement. So, let's have them be... little dots, at the bottom here. There's one dot... there's a second... there's a third. Now, let's give them little arms and legs... oh yes, and torsos, forgot about that... voila! We have our commanders." 

Confused out of their mind, X and Zero squinted as hard as they possibly could to get a good look at the board - but alas, Wiedl's sloppy art skills made the sketches almost completely nonsensical. Dragoon didn't even bother to look at them; he knew what to expect out of it. Instead, he just rolled his eyes a bit and looked the other way, wisely choosing not to be associated with it. 

"Now, there'll be a full group of you, of course, so don't think it'll only be you three out there," Wiedl informed them, as if they had never known that. "There'll also be other Hunter Units involved in the attack, as Cain mentioned before. They'll be doing... uh... other stuff. So let's just draw some dots on the sides, representing the other Units... dot, dot, dot.... arms and legs... little smiley... hrmm, is that a good smiley? Oh well, I guess it's good enough." After finishing the smilies, he also began to draw little airplanes at the top of the board. "Now, part of the 7th Unit Air Cavalry will be assisting you, but mostly only for backup survelliance. Hmm... do those little airplanes work? I think maybe I should draw a..." 

"Wiedl, we get the point," Zero snapped, tapping his foot impatiently against the floor. "If you don't mind, could you please start telling us a bit more on what _we're_ going to be doing?" 

"Oh, well... you're right, Zero," Wiedl humbly replied. "Lesee... alright, first off, we're going to have to enter the building through various entrances. This is where the Units will split up temporarily and search for Vile. Umm... so, let's just say that these little boxes in the circle will be the entrances. Let's make a guesstimate of four... yes, four entrances. So, all around the circle..." The diagram of the battlefield was now beginning to look like a kindergarten drawing of a carnival. "There we are... now, X's 17th will enter in through the front exit. This line, which I'm drawing now, will represent the direction X and his Unit will go. See this straight line that leads directly to the front box, X? This is where you're going." 

X squinted a bit at the markings again, still a little confused. "Uhh... alright, I guess," he reasoned. "So my Unit's taking the front, right?" 

"Right!" Wiedl replied, now turning to the Crimson Hunter, who was already half asleep. "Now for your Unit, Zero... uh, I guess Unit 0 will be taking the backside, no? So, if we connect Zero's dot to the back of the circle with _this_ line... oops, a little crooked there, lemme fix that... there! You'll be entering through this little box... thingy." 

"Gotcha," Zero lied, raising his eyebrows. The diagram was now starting to form the shape of a three-legged monster. 

"Alright, now for Mr. Dragoon... we've got you're Unit entering from both sides, so you'll probably split up and meet with eachother later on. Let's draw two lines coming from Dragoon's little dot..." 

"I _get_ it, Wiedl," Magma rasped with sudden frustration. "Entering from both sides. Fine. Now move on already." 

Wiedl stalled for a bit, surprised at Magma's sudden response. "Erm... alright, then," he said, his jubilant energy seeping back in. "There isn't just one building, as our scannings have shown us so far. There are about four other mini-towers surrounding the main complex, so we'll have to draw those out, too. Now, lesee..." 

Using his 'unique' style of artistry once again, the massive reploid drew four small circles all around the building, meshing with the various lines that portruded from the three dots at the bottom. Now, the diagram was just one big garbled mess, and it was almost impossible to tell everything apart. "Alright, then," he started again, "these four towers are apparently connected to the main structure, so let's draw some lines connecting those... hmm, that's not very straight... aww, jeez, I think I drew over a smiley! Lemme just patch that up..." 

"Wiedl..." Cain finally interrupted, setting a hand on his colleagues shoulder. "I think we've had the explanation drawn out enough for us to get something of an understanding as to what we're planning. So... would you mind if I just explained everything to them from here?" 

Wiedl raised his eyebrows, looking a little crestfallen. "Err... oh, alright," he agreed some what remorsefully. "Whatever you say, doc." He then turned partially away from the group, occupying himself by flipping the cardboard over and drawing his own doodles. 

"Alright, then," Cain continued, noticing the looks of relief on the faces of the three commanders. "I'm pretty sure that all of you know about the other Units involved in this invasion, and they include the 12th Assistance Unit, the 8th Desert Post, parts of the 7th Air Cavarly... and so on. They'll mostly serve as a backup party for you guys, however, so they won't really impact your duties too much as far as that goes unless an emergency arrises. Now, according to some of the scannings we've made of the fortress, we can tell that there are a total of five structures - one larger one, surrounded by four smaller ones. What we're going to do is have the three of you split your Units up temporarily and take different areas of the building at a time. X's 17th Unit will take the direct approach and enter in through the front area - which, may I remind you, may be heavily guarded - and search in as many places as possible. Zero's Unit will take the back end of the building, while Magma's Unit will take the left and right sides. Now, we can all be pretty certain that the occupants in the building may not have Vile stored in the main floor, especially if this is indeed a Maverick fortress. So, I'd like all of you to try and access the other floors in the building - it doesn't seem like there would really be that many. 

"Now, there can be several outcomes to this invasion, which is why this enitre operation is somewhat risky. First off, the fortress could be Maverick territory - if this is so, I fully encourage you to try and put a stop to their activities as soon as possible, which may or may not be an easy task. Secondly, you might not be able to find Vile - though I believe that this may only occur if you find yourselves in a great deal of danger. If this happens, I advise you to evacuate for the time being and return to the HQ so that we may set up another plan. Another outcome - the one that I certainly fear the most out of anything - is that Vile will be altered once again, with his program fully removed, causing him not only to return to his old ways but to be a much more powerful killing machine than before. If this happens, well... you'll have to try and defeat him, I guess. Though I'm pretty sure that the combined power of you three will be enough to bring him down, we can never be too cautious about these things. I advise all three of you not to underestimate him." 

X and Zero exchanged concerned faces; it wasn't really that they were frightened of what the new Vile could be like, but they really weren't liking the idea of a psychotic human-killer with big guns. Magma, however, didn't look very unnerved by the thought, and the look of indiffernece on his face refused to yield. 

"Whelp," X said to break the silence. "Is there any more we need to know, doc?" 

Cain shrugged. "I don't think there's much else to say, X," he responded. "This is the first time in a while that we've dived head-first into a situation that we know practically nothing about... but all I can really do is wish ya the best of luck. Just remember - whoever actually has the nerve to break through our security system and nab a potentially dangerous and maniacal repliod from us obviously means business, and I would expect that they'd be ready to fight against anybody that attacks them. So don't expect a cakewalk out there. If their goal is to cause mass chaos, don't go easy on them in any way. Make sure that they're stopped before any further problems arise." He paused for a moment. "Well, are there any questions? I know I haven't really elaborated all that much, so fire away." 

"I've just got one," Zero chimed in. "Do you have any guess as to how long it'll take to get to the fortress itself? I remember that desert to be pretty large." 

The Hunter leader thought for a moment. "Well... it's hard to say that it would take too long. I'd say that, from the beginning of the desert to the fortress, it would take about a half hour, forty-five minutes tops on foot. We'll probably be able to teleport you half of the way, but since our teleporters are somewhat limited, you'll have to walk the other half. Hmm... so, are there any other questions?" 

Zero glanced at his two colleagues, who each seemed to be completely silent. "Doesn't look like it, doc," he stated. 

"Alright, then," Cain finished, standing up from his chair. "I guess that's all for the time being, guys. Please relay this information to the other members of your Units as soon as possible. I advise you to get plenty of rest; I think the training you've been putting yourselves through lately has really paid off, and I want you to conserve some of your energy for tomorrow. I meet up with you again in the morning - I expect you to be ready with your Units by around 7:00. Good luck to you all." 

With that final remark, Cain nodded to a partially occupied Wiedl, who was in the middle of doodling a large pony picture on his cardboard. After a few moments, the two had already filed out of the room, leaving the three commanders on their own. 

X grimaced a bit. "Meh... I don't wanna have to walk," he whined. "I hate walking." 

Zero shot him a baffled look. "Walking?" he asked. "Why, out of all things in this mission, would you be complaining about the walking distance?" 

X shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "I'm just not fond of walking." 

"Oy... whatever," Zero finalized. He decided not to bring up the fact that X had already ran constantly through various Maverick fortresses in the past, since it wouldn't really get him anywhere. 

"You wanna get goin'?" asked X, who was beginning to lift himself up from his chair. 

Zero looked back to Magma Dragoon, who wasn't paying attention to either of them. He had his hand placed on his chin, and seemed somewhat uncomfortable. "Naw, you can go on, X," he told his friend. "I'll catch up with ya in a minute." 

X gave him a confused look, not quite understanding why his friend would want to say. He then looked to Magma curiously, and then realized somewhat why Zero would want to stay. He shrugged his shoulders a bit before leaving, keeping the door a crack open. 

"Hey, Magma," Zero asked almost immediately after X had left. "You been feelin' alright lately?" 

The Dragoon darted his eyes towards his questioner, not even bothering to turn his head. "I'm perfectly fine, Zero," he responded indifferently, not even curious as to why his colleague had asked it. "Maybe I should be asking you the same question. I hope you and X are ready for tomorrow... you may need to live up to your past expectations." 

Zero smirked. "Yeah, X and I are both ready." 

"That's good," Magma said in his usual tone. "I guess you and X'd better get to your other Unit members right about now." 

"That's an idea," Zero stated, getting up from his chair and heading for the door. "You should do the same thing, I guess." 

Magma still didn't budge from his seat; instead, he simply smiled and offered Zero a wave goodbye. "See ya round." 

"You too," Zero replied, walking out the door and shutting it tightly behind him. Upon entering the hallway outside, he was a bit surprised to see X leaning against the opposite wall. Reading from the smirk on his face, Zero could tell that he had listened in on the little exchange of dialouge. 

"Well, that certainly was interesting," X commented snidely. "What're you, Mr. Mediator now?" 

"Eh, shut yer trap," Zero jokingly snapped, walking past him and back down the hallway. 


	22. Domestic Disturbance

**Chapter 22: Domestic Disturbance**

* * *

"Y'know, I'd always thought of Vile as something of a nice guy," murmured Violen, out of the blue. 

Darrick, who sat beside Violen, glanced over at his ally with a bit of sudden interest. "How so?" he asked. 

"Oh... you could say that he helped me out a lot back in the early years," Violen reminisced. "I think it was during the first war... the other X-Hunters and I had totally different jobs back then." 

Darrick, though never usually happy to be in the company of the somewhat irritating Violen, found this little tidbit of information sort of interesting. He'd never really gotten much back-history regarding the three original X-Hunters, and he figured Violen would know pretty much everything about it. Well, hopefully... 

"They weren't the most glorifying jobs in the world, of course," Violen continued. "Y'see, Agile was something of an advisor to Vile for a little while, but he didn't acually get the job until about three minutes before Vile died. Before he got _that_ job, he was just your average run-of-the-mill soldier. I'm still kinda confused as to how he really got his job..." 

Darrick didn't seem too surprised to hear that. "So, what did Serges do?" 

"Oh, that's an easy one to remember," Violen said with some bizarre kind of pride. "Technical staff, of course. He's always been obsessed with all of that sciency buildy beepy whosafudge. Almost Sigma's top scientific advisor, he was. Never really much of a great fighter, though, so he used his technical genius to create machines of mass destruction, which he manned most of the time, of course. I'm still amazed at that - I mean, do you think any _human_ would be capable of pulling off a stunt like that?" 

His slender counterpart had to contradict him on that. "Well, humans aren't really that stupid, actually," he admitted. "Just a little short-sighted. I mean, they _were_ smart enough to birth the entire Reploid race (and all robotics in general), but that Cain guy obviously made some mistakes when creating a race of robots that were free to think on their own, basically allowing them to forcefully take control of the free world. Humanlike robots sounds good on paper, I guess... but..." 

Violen paused for a moment, taking that bit of information in and furrowing his brow. "Uhh... well, yeah," he replied, a little frazzled. "But let's branch off of that a bit." 

Darrick nodded in agreement at this; normally, any time Violen was forced into thinking too hardly about something, he would become completely clueless in a matter of seconds. He figured that this situation was no exception. 

"Alright, what was I talking about?... oh, right," Violen corrected himself. "Our past jobs... well, I think that I had one of the most interesting jobs out of all three of us. Brings back a lot of good memories talking about those good 'ol days again... almost makes me want to shed a tear..." 

"Violen...?" Darrick interrupted. "What exactly _was_ your job before you became an X-Hunter?" 

Violen sighed a bit, with an awkward mix of nostalgia and shame. "Well, erm... I was a janitor." 

The dark-blue Maverick's eyes widened. "You... you were a _janitor_?" 

"Damn straight," Violen confirmed with pride. "And I was the best janitor the Mavericks ever had, you can be sure of that! I was so experienced, I could mop up all five floors of the Flying Fortress in a matter of minutes. Spick 'n span, those floors were, and hardly ever had a speck of dirt on 'em. It was actually something of an entertaining job, too... I almost wished I hadn't left it. Lots of good memories..." His eyes could be seen moistening a little bit after that remark. 

"Erm... uh, that's all very nice, Violen," he stated impatiently. "But I still don't understand exactly how Vile 'helped you out' during your early years. Did he promote you, or something...?" 

Violen paused to think for a moment. "Erm... well, not exactly," he recalled. "I remember him being pretty appreciative of my janitorial skills, however. He complimented me on them almost all of the time, and even suggested to Sigma himself that I be honored in some way because of them. It never actually happened, though, but I still think that it was Vile that spread the word of my strength - something that I think Agile and Serges still appreciate to this day." 

Darrick looked a little confused. "Erm... how exactly was your strength shown during janitorial work?" he asked. "Did you use a large mop, or something?" 

"No... it wasn't that," Violen corrected him. "I remember that, one time before the first war really began to get rough, Vile and I were hanging out in the fortress's cafeteria after lunch. After talking for a little while, Vile suddenly noticed a group of joksters sneaking into the room and dumping garbage all over the place. I had just cleaned the floors, so you can imagine how pissed off I was - I chased after them, and beat the livin' patooda out of each. They were pretty high-ranking Maverick soldiers, too, so Vile was pretty impressed with the stunt. He eventually told the higher officers about it, including Agile and Sigma." He smiled with pride. "I was very pleased to hear that from somebody as experienced as Vile. It was kind of a shame after the war ended, though - I remember that, when he was brought back during the third war, he didn't recognize me and started treating me like an ass. He always did have a serious problem with controlling his temper..." 

Darrick nodded. "Uh huh," he said. "So... after Vile and Sigma died for the first time, did your career get a shot in the arm or something...?" 

"Hmm... yeah, sorta," Violen replied. "I remember, when Agile took over all Maverick operations, he wanted to combine a group of three, each with a distinctive quality: one with brains, one with brawn, and the last with leadership. Agile had leadershhip, of course, and Serges was a definite shoe-in for brains. And, since Agile remembered what Vile had said about me, he enlisted me as the brawn. I was so proud that day..." He placed his chin on his had, reminiscing once again about the days of old. 

"Yee-ah... that's wonderful, Violen," he repeated. Sighing a bit, the Maverick Colonel glanced at his right wrist to check the time, only to see nothing there. "Damnit!" he cursed, "I forgot my watch. Hey Vio, you got the time? I have no idea how long we've been sittng in here." 

Violen, somehow always wearing a watch, checked the time for his colleague. "Erm... lesee... it's 11:45," he announced. "And we've been sitting here since... I think 8:30-ish. So thus, we've been here for..." 

"...over three hours," Darrick finished for him. "Oy... that's a pretty long time." 

"Indeed," Violen replied. "So, uh... weren't Agile and Sigma supposed to be here earlier...?" 

"Yeah, I would say so," Darrick agreed. The duo had been sitting alone in the small waiting room right next to the Mavericks' reploid Repair Center, where Vile was once again being dilligently tinkered with, as he had been only a week before. This time around, however, Sigma wanted to make totally sure that the technical staff NOT screw up royally as they had done before, and to do so he decided to survey every single operation done to the Boba Fett clone. 

"What time did they say they'd be done with the examination?" asked Violen. 

"9:30, I think," he replied. "Maybe something's holding him up. I'm gunna go check up on 'em... you wait here." 

"Gotcha," Violen responded, giving a thumbs up. As he watched Darrick lift himself out of his chair and advance towards the door, his mind began to wander a bit. 

_Hmm... y'know, now that I think about it, maybe this new, happy-go-lucky Vile was actually a nice guy to have around,_ he thought. _Oh, sure, he was pro-human, which may have caused some tension between him and the rest of the Mavericks... but hey, he DID treat us all to some damn good brownies..._

* * *

"Jeebus laweezus, this one certainly came outta right field, now didn't it?" Agile stated with a bit of nervousness in his voice. 

"Oh, this is just spendifurous!" Sigma said angrily. "Right when I come out of my Bat Cave, this happens. There I was, thinking I was all safe and cozy in my little office above the building. But _nooooo_! Mr. Agile has to awaken me from my peaceful slumber because Vile was back. Well la-de-friggin'-da! Now we discover that the stupid reploid is bugged! BUGGED, Agile! And not bugged by any ordinary peoples, no no NO. The HUNTERS bugged him, Agile!..." 

"Yes, sir... I pretty aware of that," Agile interrupted. "But, like I said when Vile first escaped, it's not the end of the world..." 

"Well, it's starting to reach that bloody point, isn't it?!" the bald-headed leader almost shouted. "Why does this situation _always_ have to arise, I pray thee? Those frickin' Hunters always have to intervene in any way they can, ruining EVERYTHING we've been working so hard on. They annoy me beyond the breaking point. They're worse than an ingrown toenail, they are." The reploid king failed to consider that reploids can't actually have ingrown toenails, but at this point he could care less. 

"Sir, please calm yourself down!" Agile exclaimed. "Everytime you blow your geyser like this, you just end up making things sound worse than they already are. Listen closely to me - I am 100% positive that the Hunters have ABSOLUTELY no chance of taking us down this time. I mean, remember that we've got the supreme ace up our sleeves... OmegaVile. The guy'll follow every command we give 'em, nobody elses. It's a foolproof plan, trust me!" 

"'Foolproof'. HAH!" Sigma mocked. "What a stupid, meaningless word. Nothing on this Earth is foolproof anymore. If getting the crap kicked out of me three wars in a row has taught me anything, it's _that_." 

"Sigma!" Agile yelped at him, starting to lose paitence. "Come on, now! This skepticism isn't like you in any way. As long as I've known you, you've always been the one who encouraged us and supported us, always being determined and sure that our plans would succeed. And, even if they didn't really work out exactly as you had planned, you always found a way to come back strong." 

That was true. "Yes, I know, I know..." he muttered to his comrade. "Believe me, I hate being skeptical. I would literally kill to have that exact same rush of pride and determination that I had during the first Maverick War. But it isn't that easy to do, you understand. Though I know the Hunters as a whole aren't exactly an organization to really be afraid of, there are some few-and-far-between Hunters that eventually end up doing us in. More specifically, two of them." 

Agile nodded. "Like we need to say their names?" 

"Exactly. Those two piss the hell out of me, and there's one main reason for that - though, when they pursue me, they aren't capable of bringing me down immediately, there's always that last moment in which one will bring me down with one final attack. ALWAYS. I'd like to just call it very good luck, but from what you and I have seen, we know that it's much, much more than that. Something happens unexpectedly, and I end up fried. I'd really, REALLY like to do something about that little inconsistency..." 

Agile shrugged. "I betcha we could work on a backup emergency program, or something..." 

"Yeah, that _would_ help," Sigma half-heartedly agreed. "Though I'm not completely sure if that'll work... X and Zero are very clever, they are. But, I know that, someday, I'll take both of 'em down in one full swoop, right when they least expect it. And while I watch them struggle and fall to the ground lifelessly, I'll be there, laughing heartily the enitre way through." A devilish smile spread over the evil mastermind's face, and he began to chuckle evily. 

Agile liked that idea, too. "Maybe Vile will take care of that for ya sooner than you think, Sigma." 

"Oh, that would be a treat," Sigma said with a bit of guilty pleasure, just like he had used to. "It would work out perfectly... I figure it would really give that pansy-assed X a good fright." He stopped for a moment, now seemingly in deep thought. "I'm a little upset that I couldn't find something to scare the pants off of Zero, though," he said with remorse. "That would be much, much more fun to watch. With X, it's much more commonplace. But with _Zero_... to be honest, I've never really been able to see fear or emotional distress in his eyes. Maybe we should do something about that." 

His second-in-command rolled his eyes a bit; he was too used to this talk. "Alright, I think we've been discussing the many follies of X and Zero long enough, sir," he said. "I think that now would be a good time to check up on Vile's current status, wouldn't you agree? We haven't talked to M-24 or Serges about it for the past two hours, you realize." 

"Oh, of course I do," Sigma stated. "But it's not like we can't see what they're doing. I mean, we've got this nice viewing window, now don't we? It's a helluva lot easier to just sit back and watch for ourselves." 

"Well, I personally don't think it's that good of an idea," Agile commented, peering faintly through the looking glass that formed a separation between them and the mechanics. "You should be there, watching every little change they make to that little guy. Lord knows that, if they screw up AGAIN, then we'll be in very, very deep shiet. I thought you had just told all of us that Vile's tinkerings would be examined from beginning to end, making sure that no mistakes were made. How can you be so irresponsib-" 

"Here," Sigma suddenly interrupted, holding out one of the round-shaped candies that he enjoyed to carry around for some reason. "If you shut up, I'll let you have this." 

Agile was speechless, and stared at the little round candy for quite a while before looking his superior straight in the face. "A _Life Saver_?" he asked him, almost offended. "You're trying to bribe me with a friggin' _life saver_?" 

"What's the problem? You no like?" Sigma queried, looking a bit down. "Oh, fine then, more for me." His hand suddenly closed over the little ring of candy, which he then shoved straight to his mouth. He crunched it around in his mouth before looking to Agile, who was thoroughly disgusted to say the least. 

"Well, I hope you're enjoying it," the X-Hunter commented sarcastically. 

"Oh, believe me, I am," Sigma replied heartily. "Lemon is the best flavor." 

"Yeah, you have yer damned lemon..." Agile muttered under his breath. 

While Sigma continued to slosh the lemon-coated treat in his mouth, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a door creaking open to Agile's left. Out came a curious Darrick, who poked his head into the half-room and glanced around a bit. He slinked in after noticing Agile and Sigma sitting impatiently. 

"Hey, Darrick!" Agile called, noticing the young colonel almost immediately. "Nice to see you here." 

"Uhh... right, right," Darrick muttered, glancing at the other figure next to the head X-Hunter. "Sigma, nice to see you too, sir..." 

"Meh," the Maverick king muttered in response, shrugging a bit; he had gotten way too many happy-daffy welcomes from his recruits for one day. "Tell me, why are you here? Do you need something...?" 

Darrick eyed his superior with confusion in his eyes. "Uhh... well, sir, I've been waiting outside with Violen for over three hours now. You promised us that you'd be done here much earlier than that, so I came in here to see what exactly was holding you up..." 

At first, Agile just stared at Darrick for a few seconds, with a 'what the hell?' look in his face. He then suddenly let out a long "Ohhh!", obviously recalling the promise they had made to the two of them. "Yes, yes... we promised you 9:30, didn't we...?" 

"Yeah, that was it, sir," Darrick replied. "So, we were wondering... did something come up that we should know about? I mean, you usually don't take so long with an examination unless something really important occurs." 

After Darrick's last remark, a fairly noticable change could be seen in the appearances of Agile and Sigma. Agile began scratching his neck nervously and turned his head in the opposite direction, to his superior. Sigma, rolling his eyes a bit, waved his hand at the head X-Hunter, signaling for him to field the question. 

"Erm... well, y'see, Darrick, it goes a little like this..." Agile began shakily. "Uh... well, when we found Vile, we first did a full analysis on him, and well... we found some interesting bits of information. Certain things happened, interesting things... one thing in particular caught our eyes, actually..." 

"Oh, Agile, you're confusing him now!" Sigma interrupted impatiently. "No need to hide anything from him. Darrick, Vile's been bugged. We found the bug inside of his helmet, and it was immediately destroyed." 

Darrick paused for a moment. "A... bug?" he asked. "Well, uh... who was it that bugged him?" 

"The Hunters, of course," Sigma replied. "Not much of a surprise, I guess. Maybe if SOME people were a little less short-sighted about these things and planned out Vile's capture a little better, we wouldn't be knee-deep in this mess." He shot a damning look at Agile. 

"Oh, please," Agile snipped. "How was _I_ supposed to know he'd be bugged? We were running out of options, and times were really, really desperate around here. Even our own recruits were starting to turn. Did I ever happen to tell you the story of when Darrick here and I were brutally ambushed...?" 

"YES, Agile. Several times," Sigma snipped back. "Anyways, Serges and M-24 have blocked us out again, but they're letting us use this large viewing window so that we can see exactly what they're doing. It's soundproof, of course, since the mechanics almost need total silence to get their job done right." 

Darrick pondered this for a moment. "Soundproof, huh? So they can't hear a word of what we're saying right now?" 

"Not a word," Agile confirmed. "Here, lemme show ya." He lifted himself up from his chair, cupping his hands around his mouth. "HEY, SERGES!" he shouted, "SIGMA, DARRICK, AND I WERE THINKING ABOUT GETTIN' IN TOUCH WITH YOUR DISEASED GORILLA OF A MOTHER AND HAVIN' A LITTLE FUN WITH 'ER! WHADDYA THINK ABOUT THAT, EH?" 

After Agile shouted the vulgar comment, Serges could be seen withering with sudden rage. In an act of rage, he shot daggers at Agile and gave him a customary one-finger salute. The three seated all had looks of shock plastered on their faces. 

"Erm... whoops," Agile chuckled nervously, gradually lowering himself back into his seat. "I guess it isn't _completely_ soundproof..." 

Sigma shook his head at him. "Now, come on, Agile," he scolded lightly. "That wasn't mature in the slightest. I expect better behavior out of you." 

"Oh, don't give me that," Agile snapped. "You were worse to me when you barricaded yourself in your office, remember? I was very offended." 

The bald reploid nodded a bit, rubbing his chin. "Touche. But mine was more understandable, since I believe I had been under a heavy sedative at the time..." 

"Oh, whatever," Agile finalized. "Getting back on the subject, I'd have to say that we shouldn't worry too much about this entire 'bug' thing. For all we know, it could be a hoax, or the thing could've been defective or something. And even if it hadn't, we discovered and destroyed it pretty quickly, didn't we? Because of that, the Hunters may have been completely thrown off course. So, personally, I don't think we should focus on the bug as much as we should focus on the reconstruction of Vi..." 

Before Agile could finish, the door behind Darrick suddenly burst open, causing the young colonel to be forcefully pushed to the side and almost knocked off his feet. A turquoise-hued soldier ambled in, a bit on the lanky side, huffing and puffing. The look in his eyes signified a hint of fear and shock. 

"Master Sigma, sir!" he addressed, saluting his grand commander. "We need you on the second floor deck immediately. It's an emergency." 

Sigma glanced at the soldier with confusion. "Emergency...?" he asked. "What's going on?" 

"We believe it may be some kind of attack, sir," he replied between breaths. "Our radars have picked up a somewhat large grouping of soldiers traveling through the desert, headed straight for us. We've spotted some small fighter jets as well, but they don't seem to be advancing as rapidly as the other groups." 

Upon hearing this, Sigma's face began to show a full palette of emotions: shock, fear, partial confusion, and anger. While getting up to leave, the Reploid Ruler gave Agile an 'I'm going to kill you when this is all over' type look, and then motioned for the other two to follow him as well. The four filed out of the room, leaving Serges and the mechanics to their own devices. 

* * *

After an extensive amount of time on one track of land, a young soldier has a tendency to become accustomed to that land, and eventually adapt to what it has to offer. They form an interesting bond with it, one that can't exactly be described using a language of any kind. But what is known, however, is that once that soldier leaves that particular track of land, they will most certainly remember it for years to come as a place where they traveled, toiled, and learned to be better people. While doing such things, however, that soldier's bond with the land will never really sink in until later... 

...and this was no exception. "DAMN, this desert sucks," complained a reploid Hunter named Lark as he and a large grouping of other Hunters trekked through the long sand fields. He wore dark red armor with orange trimmings, and a rounded helmet fitted on his head. 

"Eh, I don't think it's ALL that bad," replied the human beside him. "I mean, we're getting some nice fresh air for a change, right? Better than being cooped up in that musty headquarters of ours." The human's name was Colin Rovino, a seasoned fighter in the Hunters' 17th Unit, and one of the only humans in it. He maintained a somewhat bulky figure, wearing light battle armor and a bandana on his head which, for some reason, he wore almost all the time. He also kept a small laser pistol in a holster on his right hip, which he was very skilled at using. 

"Aw, screw fresh air. Like I even need it," Lark snipped to his friend; the reploid was also in the 17th, and had been good friends with Colin when they each enlisted during the second Maverick uprising. "What we could really use would be some nice transportation... y'know, trucks and the like." 

"Eh, Cain doesn't wanna use 'em," the human answered, kicking a little sand from his boots. "He says that during this particular raid, he doesn't want to cause too much commotion. I also think that he really doesn't think we need to reach the place to quickly - I mean, we've got plenty of time to get this whole ordeal out of the way." 

Lark sighed a bit. "Well, to tell ya the truth, I'm kinda hoping that these people are Mavericks," he admitted. "Y'know... less complication. Besides, Irregies are the most fun to kick the livin' crap out of." 

The reploid displayed his guilty pleasure by making a fist and punching his other palm. Colin, though usually not a huge fan of sensless combat, couldn't help but grin devilishly at his comrade's remark. "Yeah, I'd have to admit that I feel a little like that too," he said. "Mavericks are certainly not people I'd like to be affiliated with... not that I actually _could_ get in, but you catch my drift." 

"Yeppers..." Lark muttered in agreement. "My job would be a lot easier if the Mavericks were at least _slighly_ lenient with me, considering I'm of their race and all. But I'm pretty sure they'd be ready to kill me as much as they would a human..." 

"Yeah, very true, unfortunately..." Colin replied. At that time, he remembered something suddenly and glanced behind him, stopping himself. 

"Hey, Col. You alright?" Lark asked, who was a little surprised at his friend's sudden pause. He stopped as well, letting the rest of the troops walk along past them. 

"Oh... naw, I'm alright," he said, still glancing over his shoulder a bit. "I was just wondering where Chase went. He was just here with us a few minutes ago..." 

"Well, could we worry about him later, please?" Lark barked impatiently. "The other troops have already gone pretty far ahead of us, and if we don't catch up now, we may get stuck in this stinkin' hellhole. He's probably just gone along with the others..." 

"Naw, I don't think so," Colin said with sudden assurance, pointing in the opposite direction. "That giant lump back there seems awfully familliar, if you ask me." 

Raising his eyebrows a bit, Lark took a look back in the direction that Colin had been pointing in. Sure enough, he was able to see a small, blueish lump gradually ambling towards the two, which slowly began to resemble the shapely form of a lanky, blonde-haired human. After a little bit of waiting from the two Hunter elites, the figure had finally made it's way in front of both of them, breathing heavily and looking extremely sweaty and dehydrated. 

"Hey... guys..." Chase said between breaths. "I just got... caught up... back there... very... very tired... I am..." 

"Aww, come on Chase," Colin coaxed. "We haven't been walking for THAT long, and look you. You're all messied up, mon! I thought that Magma put you on a strict daily training program..." 

"Yeah... he did," Chase replied, now coughing a bit. "But... maybe I'm just... not cut out... for all this work..." 

"Naw, don't worry about it," Lark encouraged. "Just having a bad day, that's all. Here, lemme help ya out..." Crouching next to the slumped-over human, he placed an arm over his lanky shoulders and hoisted him upwards, allowing him the strength to walk normally. "Now, we'd better get moving. I can see the other soldiers, but they aren't really moving. Maybe the commanders are briefing them on something important..." 

"Yeah... let's get our arses in gear already," Colin agreed, already starting to advance towards the others. Lark followed closely after him, the bumbling Chase in tow, and soon enough the two managed to find the entire team of Hunters, now bunched up into a larger grouping. Though the three couldn't see them over the crowd, the trio of Unit Commanders, X, Zero, and Dragoon, were eyeing the horizon with large binoculars, chatting sporatically with eachother about what their next move would be. Lark, Colin, and Chase soon blended in neatly with the crowd of soldiers, who were now talking with one another silently. 

"Hey, Marx," Colin asked a stocky human with greasy brown hair in front of him. "What's going on? Why're we stopping...?" 

The other human shrugged. "To be honest, we really don't know," he replied. "X just suddenly told us to stop for a moment, and then went off a small ways to check up on how much farther away the fortress should be. I'm not sure why they're still talking to eachother, though - maybe they're deciding what else there is to do at the moment..." 

"Oh, what kind of sense would _that_ make?" Lark suddenly interrupted, letting go of Chase in the process and causing him to fall to the desert ground. The human recollected himself quickly, however, and then returned to the bumbling crowd with a look of utter frustration on his face. "What else are we supposed to do? We're in the middle of a friggin' desert... there's nothing to do but go forward or backward." 

"Yeah, I know, I know..." Marx reassured him. "Don't shoot the messenger. I personally have no idea what's going on." 

"I just hope they take care of things as quickly as possible," Colin chimed in. "It's hot as hell out here, and it's obviously doing a number on the human Hunters trudging through this godforsaken sand land. Maybe if all our commanders weren't mechanical, they might understand that not everybody can take a high amount of heat energy..." 

"Hey, we sympathize!" Lark exclaimed. "We aren't fond of heat much, either. Causes metal to expand, it does..." 

"Oh, boo hoo," Colin mocked, which resulted in a rasberry thrown at him by his friend. The young human Hunter then tried to poke his head over the crowd, being barely able to see the commanders at all. Finally, he could see the tip of X's helmet, which was now advancing towards them along with the slightly more visible heads of Zero and Dragoon. 

"Everybody, form up!" shouted an eager X. "C'mon, in your Units... we're going to be dividing ourselves soon." The Elite Commander waited with his partners as the large clutter of Hunters organized themselves into three separate groups, signifying their respecatble Units. Soon enough, they were all neatly grouped, and had silenced themselves completely in anticipation for what their commanders would instruct them to do. 

"Alright, everybody!" Zero now began, raising his hands in the air. "After some deductions done by myself and my fellow Commanders, we've realized that it shouldn't be too much longer before we have a run-in with our main destination. Luckily, we haven't had anybody stray from the group during this trek, which is a definite plus. So, now that we're divided up, we're going to be taking different paths to the fortress's entrance. Remember, X's 17th Unit will be taking the frontside entrance, my Unit 0 will be taking care of the back exit, and Magma's 14th Unit will be taking both the left and right sides. If the enemy retaliates with excessive force, then we'll have no choice to do the same. Vile must be found, at all costs. I remind you, however, that this is the ONLY situation in which you should attack them. If they decide to give up Vile peacefully, or negotiate with us, then there'll be no bloodshed. Of course, if there's Mavericks in there, we've gotta shut 'em down ASAP. And, also remember that, in case of emergency, we have direct contact with the Air Cavalry and some surrounding Units." He paused for a moment, taking a short breath. "Well, I'm sure you've heard this a thousand times today already, so... let's get going! We've got no time to waste!" 

After getting the signal from their commanders, the three Hunter groups sprang back to life and began striding down that same path that they had been traveling through for about a half hour now. Colin and Lark walked aside their other Unit members, conversing about the incoming raid and what they expected to happen. Chase, who had regrouped with the 14th Grapple Combat Unit, was now straggling along in the rear of the group, huffing and puffing in annoyance. He didn't notice the look of daggers that his commander, Magma Dragoon, was constantly giving him. Zero kept a strong hold on his group, as he talked silently with some of the frontrunners as they traveled. 

Little did these soldiers realize that they would soon be faced with one of the most challenging conflicts in their Hunter careers... 


	23. The Worst Possible Welcome

**Chapter 23: The Worst Possible Welcoming**

* * *

As was specified in Dr. Cain's plannings, X's 17th, Zero's 0th, and Magma's 14th would certainly not be the only Units in serious action during this raid 'n search. If ever the three main attack Units were, in some inane way, to be smack dab in the middle of some horrific and seemingly hopeless situation, backup Units could always be contacted. Far above the heads of the many soldiers, there flew members of the ever-competent and highly skilled 7th Unit Air Cavalry. They had the closest tie-ins with the HQ, and basically reported the status of the soldiers' advancement from their keen eagle-eye views. For this mission, Cain had called upon the finest pilots the Hunters had to offer (which really wasn't saying much, however, considering that many of their best pilots had either been killed or had retired during the third Uprising). The airbourne recruits also kept close tabs on the grounded Units that formed a loose defensive barrier around the fortress. 

This "barrier", in actuality, was just a large encirclement of the entire fortress in question. The Units forming the barrier, however, actually were instructed to spread themselves out into the desert and each perform specific duties, each one picked out by Cain himself. The jobs themselves weren't completely necessary ones, but they were somewhat helpful - the 8th Armored Division, being heavily protected and efficient during desert raids specifically, were in charge of watching for and shutting down any kind of harmful disturbance (soldiers, mostly) coming from the outside. The 4th Overland Unit, being very tactful on most tracts of land in general, were given the duty to inspect the land and look for any dangers there (land mines, etc.). Then, of course, was one of the most overlooked Units in the Hunters, the 12th Combat Assistance Unit. Though this Unit was blessed with one of the less tedious jobs, communications, they were unfortunatley hindered by one of the worst forces in human and reploid nature: incompetence. 

"Hey, hey... HEY!" shouted the now-shrill voice of Glacier Dragoon, who was now standing and cupping his mouth. "Anderson! What the hell're you DOING back there?!" 

Somewhat far back into the desert distance, a stocky middle-aged male looked back at his Commander with a somewhat puzzled look on his face. "Oh, don't worry about me, sir!" he shouted back in assurance. "On the way over here, I got into a little snag, and I think I dropped my keys somewheres. I'll find them soon, though!" He gave a thumbs-up to Glacier, wearing a pathetically stupid smile on his face. 

The azure-coated Commander grunted inwardly, utterly annoyed by the whole situation. Though the 12th Unit wasn't plagued with a boring and longwinded job like their other partner Units, the job could easily have been considered one of the worst, considering all of the idiotic and dimwitted soldiers Glacier was forced to deal with. As was expressed by Glacier's good friend, Icarus, the entire ordeal produced "the highest level of suckage known to modern man". 

Speaking of Icarus - the goofy yet somewhat skilled Hunter was sitting in the sand beside his commander, staring at his small communication device and waiting for any incoming messages (he and some of the others exchanged messages with the Air Cavalry from time to time). While he did so, the grey-plated soldier sang merrily to himself to pass the time. 

"Some people say that today is the day when the wind will rise and blow the world a-wayyy..." he sang, snapping his fingers to his own beat. After a short while, however, the Hunter's singing began to turn into a tedious and noisy mess, which really began to get on Dragoon's nerves. 

"Oy, gevault... would you cut that out, PLEASE?" barked Glacier, who was standing right next to his friend's resting position. "Not only do I _hate_ it when you wail like that, but it also really doesn't help with me having to deal with this bunch of crazy soldiers. The last thing I need is you becoming just as annoying as the rest of them." 

Icarus, a little offended by his Commander's remark, stopped singing and then raised both of his hands in an 'I didn't do it' fashion. "Hey hey hey, c'mon now," he reasoned. "I'm only trying to keep myself and the rest of the troops happy and entertained..." 

"Wow. You honestly think the other troops really give a flyin' fatoot?" Glacier snapped, pointing a clawed finger at the gaggle of the other Unit 12 soldiers behind him. They were a clean mix of reploid and human, and were all sitting in a neat little circle on the sandy desert surface. They all seemed to be immersed in a game of some kind, which involved all of them throwing their walkie-talkies mindlessly at eachother, all of them catching the black things and then tossing them to the next person. As they did so they sang: "The Wonder Boxes go round 'n round, to catch them quickly you are bound, if you're the one to break them last, then you'll fall promptly on yer ass! And you - are - OUT!" In one sudden motion, the group tossed all of their communicators at one helpless human Hunter, all of them crashing down on him like hail on a stormy night. Because of this, some of the comms snapped like twigs immediately after coming in contact with the young man's skin. All of the soldiers, sans the crushed human, laughed hysterically at the sight. 

"Ohhhh, Jeebus - tapdancin' - Christ," Glacier cursed in shame. "Where the hell do they think they are? Little Miss Molly's Tea Party?" 

"I wouldn't really be surprised," Icarus responded, rubbing his chin in observation. "There goes a clean half of our communications job. Weird how all of those communicators snapped like that... I guess we must've been on something of a low budget." 

"Yeah, it's always like that." The Dragoon glared at the soldiers for about five more seconds, watching them still guffawing and jeering at the injured human, who was now arising from the bed of black devices and muttering inaudible curses at his 'friends'. Glacier then looked back to his friend. 

"Hey, Ikar," he muttered to him. "You doin' anything of real importance right now?" 

Icarus checked his comm once again, seeing that the red light wasn't flashing. "No, suh." 

"Good. Then could you get those idiots back in line? I'd do it, but I'm really, _really_ not in the mood for that kinda bullcrap today, thank you very mooch." 

"Yessuh, Mr. Glayshuh suh," he said in a kiddish voice as he shot back onto his feet and headed on over to the other soldiers, kicking up sand as he ran. Some faint yelling on his part could be heard, and Glacier was happy to see that the soldiers were willing (yet pretty reluctant) to settle down. As Icarus stayed with them to give 'em a small lecture, Dragoon directed his glance away from the group and directed his attention back to both Icarus's and his own comms, both of which remained totally inactive... 

...well, up until that very minute. Out of the blue, Glacier's comm (nestled in his right hand) suddenly began beeping a bit, with static and a message following: 

"Dragoon of Unit 12!" it said. "This is Commander X of the 17th Unit. Do you read me...?" 

Glacier, fumbling a bit, immediately jolted the comm to the front of his mouth. "Yep, read you loud and clear, X," he responded. "What's your situation? You reach the fortress yet?" 

"We're right on the verge of it, actually," X said enthusiastically. "Our Units have already split up, so it's only me and the rest of my team approaching the place now. Should only take a few minutes. Sorry to keep you guys waiting and all." 

"Oh, hasn't been a problem," Glacier lied, watching some of the soldiers now teaming up on Icarus, who was fighting back with all his might. "But you guys shouldn't be worrying about us at a time like this. You see any soldiers or anything yet? Y'know, guards or something?" 

The elite Commander paused for a moment, pondering something. "Hrmm... well, actually, I think I can see some soldiers burrowing around the top of the place. Only about a couple of them, it seems. I think I'll have to ask them a few questions." 

"Yeah, well, you do that," Glacier replied anxiously, now watching the soldiers dragging Icarus through the sand by his legs, with the reploid yelping for help consistently. "I've got some... er, important matters to attend to, so I should probably end the transmission right about now." 

"Oh, right. I should probably do the same thing..." X mentioned casually. "Oh, and Glaish, remember that Zero and Magma are taking the other sides, so you'll probably be getting signals from them soon." 

"Uh... right. Well stand by for 'em," Glacier replied a little nervously, mentally praying that any of the comms that were smashed didn't signal any of the other Commanders. "Anyways, best of luck to you and the rest of the soldiers out there. Try not to get your ass deep-fried or anything." 

"Well try," X said with a laugh. "Adios, over..." That ended the transmission, and the little light on Glacier's black box fizzled out. 

"Hoboy, THIS certainly should be interesting," the stressed Commander muttered to himself as he began to help out his friend, who had been shoved into the sandy depths by a bunch of rowdy and brutally incompetent 'Hunters'. 

* * *

"Stupid 'effin sun," complained the high-toned voice of T-17. The lanky blueish-yellowish Maverick technician leaned lazily over the railing that surrounded the very tip-top of the circle-shaped fortress, which in itself was actually quite big. "I wish that we could just blow that damned thing up. Christophola, it's friggin HOT out here..." 

"Please, 17, could you stop whining?" asked his partner and apparent friend, the short and stocky T-18, who was sitting down next to his friend, facing away from the front of the fortress. "It really bothers me when you do that. With you around, every situation seems worse than it actually is..." 

"Oh, don't give me THAT," T-17 snapped at him, removing himself from his laid-back poise. "This suck-diddly-ucks. Look where we've gone, my friend. Only some weeks ago, we, out of an EXTREME stroke of luck, manage to find the one particular soldier that Sigma just so HAPPENS to be desperately searching for. They launch this whole plan - Vile's rebirth, releasing his latent power, sending him off on some wonderful happy mission to destroy all of mankind, etc... and it was all because of us and our sharp hunting skills. And what do we get for it, I ask thee? Two feckin' moldy LIFE SAVERS, and a series of run-down jobs fit only for slack-jawed yokels." Had he the ability, he would have spat on the ground; rather, he kicked the waist-high chrome rail with his metallic foot. "And they screwed their job up pretty bad, too... figures. That whole lot of them, they're all a bunch of incompetent ninnies. They need more experience people like us... but NOOOO! They give us this blue-collar 'guarding' job. Well la-de-frikin'-dah!..." 

"Alright, alright!" his pudgy associate interrupted. "I agree that the whole thing really wasn't very fair, but it could be worse, you know. A guarding job, in my opinion, is actually a pretty honorable one. I mean, they shoved us into this job and completely ignored the fact that we have absolutely no experience in combat or general... eh, let's just call it 'shooing away', or anything like that. I guess they trust us. That's always a good thing..." 

"Oh, shut your yap!" 17 nagged. "That's ridiculous. You and I know perfectly well that we were only given these jobs so we could be put OUT OF THEIR WAY. We hinder them, I guess, Lord knows why. And another thing, exactly what 'honor' is going to come from a craphole of a job like this? I mean, what're the chances that we're going to actually be ambushed by some overpowering enemy, I pray thee? We're practically in the middle of nowhere, for Chrissakes, so how are we gunna be locat-" 

"HEY, YOU TWO UP THERE!" 

A foreign voice, greeting the artificial eardrums of both T-17 and 18, interrupted 17's speech in mid-sentence and came from the base level of the fortress. Though the voice itself didn't sound all too threatening, the two both received something of a chilling feeling from it, as if they had heard it years before. They didn't know exactly who it was until 17 mustered up the courage to actually peer over the edge. 

"Who in the name of Zeus..." the Maverick muttered to himself as he advanced the railing once again and cautiously peered over the edge, with his partner behind him. What he saw was extremely out of the ordinary; it was a group of people, actually. A blue-armored reploid stood strongly at the front of the group, who was staring straight up at the two, and was most likely the one who had called to them. Following behind him was a troupe of about six to seven other soldiers, not too unusual - but they were a mix of both reploids AND HUMANS. That, out of anything, assured poor 17 that the fellahs greeting them at the door could never be Maverick affiliates... Mavericks would never accept HUMANS into their ranks, for Chrissakes, and would certainly never make affiliates of them either. Also, their leader certainly looked very familiar... one of those elite reploids, but certainly not in the Maverick ranks. So, by the process of elimination, the reploid techhy realized that the only group these people could affilated with were the... 

"Ogod, Ogod, OGOD..." he muttered, clutching the rail tightly, his eyes now ablaze with sudden horror. "18... down there... there are HUNTERS down there!" 

"Hunters?!" T-18 replied with shock, rushing over to his partner's side. "Really? How do you know...?" 

"Well, it's pretty feckin' obvious!" 17 responded with both panic and anger. "Some of those soldiers are HUMANS down there, for Pete's sake. And that soldier standing at the front... that blue guy... he's one of those big-shots in the Hunter ranks. I forget his name... Mega X, or something..." 

"MegaMan X?" 18 finished for him. 

"YES. That's the guy!" 17 recalled, peering back down at the group. "Oh jeebus... we're in deep ca-ca now, my friend. Those damned Hunters must've found some way to track us down. They're very crafty, they are... probably found us on radar or something after we swiped Vile back from them. Oh Jeebus Sweet Christophola... they're gonna fry us bad, they will... they're always so damned MERCILESS, I tell ye..." 

"Alright, alright, just calm yourself," 18 assured. "Don't be so pessimistic about it. I mean, sure, Hunters at a Maverick base isn't quite a good thing. But who knows? They might not even know that we're actually Mavericks yet." 

"Oh, and how does THAT really matter?!" 17 almost shouted. "If they don't know now, then they sure as hell'll find out sooner or later. I mean, come ON. They can just barge right into this feckin' building, notice all of the Maverick insignias and extreme lack of human life, and figure things out for themselves. They certainly aren't stupid..." 

"Hmm..." 18 pondered, remaining surprisingly calm. "Well, how about we just try and fool them and pretend we aren't Mavericks...?" 

"18, now you're REALLY starting to pull stuff out of your ass," 17 snapped. "That'll never work, for the very same reasons I _just_ said, if you were actually listening for a change. They'll find out about us in a heartbeat, if they just look in the right pla-" 

"HELL-O!" shouted the voice of X again, which was actually pretty calm considering that he had to shout so loudly. "Anybody ALIVE up there?!" 

"Uh... yes, yes!" called back T-17, who had finally gained the courage to address them back. "You, uh... have arrived at the house of, uh... Lord... Shazzlefrazzle. What business do you have here, may I ask?" 

X, somewhat surprised to finally get a response, raised his eyebrows a bit at the name 'Lord Shazzlefrazzle'. But, for the time being, he seemed to ignore it. "We've come here on something of a search... or retrival, if you want to call it that," X responded. "We're on a search for Vile, one of the most feared Maverick soldiers, after he was apparently abducted from our headquarters not too long ago. We've tracked him to this location, so we have no doubt that he's still being housed here. So, if you would be kind enough to let us into the building and to negotiate with whomever is inside, we'd be happy to take him off of your hands..." 

"Oh, no, I'm very sorry, but a search like that seems pretty pointless to me," 17 replied apologetically. "That Vile fellah... he was transferred the hell outta here, actually." 

X looked to the technician with a glint of confusion in his eye. "Transferred...? Where to?" 

"Ummm... Milwaukee, I believe," 17 blatantly lied, scratching the railing with his fingers nervously. 

"...Milwaukee? Why...?" 

"Oh, many reasons," 17 said. "Reasons none of us really understand, actually..." 

"What're you saying to them?" 18 whispered to him, keeping himself concealed. 

"Don't worry. I told 'em he was transferred," 17 muttered, chuckling evilly a bit. "Listen... I want you to look around here for something to fend them off with. Like a brick, or something..." 

"What? Why...?" 

"Well, we can't let them in without a fight, can we? Now c'mon, hurry up. I have a feeling things are about to get pretty ugly..." 

* * *

"What... what did he just say...?" asked a curious Lark, who was standing in back of X and beside his friend Colin. "I couldn't hear him too well." 

"He said that Vile was transferred, or something like that," Colin replied. "That's... really, really odd. Something gives me the idea that he's just feeding us a chock-full of crap." 

"Yeah... same here," said X, who was now staring at the mysterious reploid with suspicion. "ALRIGHT THEN!" he shouted to him once again. "Tell me, my good man. Exactly _how_ are we supposed to believe what you're telling us...?" 

"Eet es ze TRUTH!" 17 shouted, donning a somewhat annoying accent. "Are you calling uz liarz?" 

"Well, excuse me for being a tad suspicious," X muttered. "Anyway, I'm truly dying to know something. Who exactly ARE you affiliated with?..." 

"ZAT EES NON OFF YOR BIZ-NESS!" 17 shouted back. "You ztoopid, pathetic nin-ee of ay Huntere. Ve vill NEVAR LET YOOS STOOPES IN!!!" 

"Then, what the hell're you doing in the middle of a bloody DESERT?..." 

"NON OFF YOOR BIZ-NESS, NINEE!" 17 barked rudely at the travelers. "ZTOOPIDS! YOU VILL NEVAR GEET IN ZE FORTRESS!..." 

"Alright, that's quite enough of your personal insults and that pathetically fake attempt at a French accent," X yelled at him, much more seriously than before. "We're going to search this building high-and-low for Vile, whether you want us to or not. Therefore, we offer you one last chance at peace. You either let us in without too much commotion, or we will have to retaliate with excessive force-" 

"GHAA! ZTOOPID NINNY OF A HUNTERE! I FART IN YOUR GENERAL DIRECTION!" the guard shouted inanely, now really disoriented. "YOUR MOTHER WAS A HAMSTER, AND YOUR FATHER SMELT OF _ELDERBERRIES!_" 

X rolled his eyes, ashamed with the utter ridiculousness of the man's words. "Oh, come on now. This is SERIOUSLY starting to get ridic-" 

Before the fully embarrased X could say anything more, a rectangle-shaped projectile came sailing down from the guard's perch and straight towards the blue soldier. His reflexes failing him a bit, the Hunter was nailed right in his helmetted head, the force of the blow causing a small but somewhat impressive dent in it. He bent over a bit, clutching his injured cranium and muttering an excessive string of awkward curses. 

"OWW! JAY-sis, that HURTS!" X shouted. "Was that REALLY a necessary gesture...?" 

"Oh, don't tell me..." commented Colin in a bit of fright. "I think that was a friggin' BRICK they just tossed at us!" 

"THAT'S RIGHT, you stupid, weak Hunters!" the menacing guard shouted angrily, his fake accent starting to fade away now. "And there's PLENTY more where that came from, sonny! HA HA! LOOK AT YOUR ZTOOPID, WEAK LEADERE! HE WRITHES IN PAIN! _WRITHES!!!_" 

Out of the blue, another large brick was chucked at the unsuspecting masses, and began to become dangerously close to one of the soldier's heads once again. Before it could come into contact, however, a plasma shot whizzed through the air and engulfed it, shattering it into tiny little pieces. Though the group was still pretty shocked at the sight, they were relieved to see that X had risen back to his feet and had taken care of the incoming threat, his arm cannon still smoking a bit. 

"This is the last straw, guys," X announced to his crew, breathing quite heavily. "I personally can't take any more of this utterly unnecessary and ridiculous verbal and physical abuse. Maybe I'm a loony, but I have a strong feeling that these people don't want us to see whatever's in this godforsaken building. Therefore, I propose we bust this damned door down already and have a look for ourselves. I'm not much of a fan of violence, but- OWW!" Before he could finish, X was bricked once again, this time on the arm. The guard above could be heard hollering in a very brutish manner. 

"Alright then, let's get the door down! CHARGE!" yelled an angered Lark, who, with a group of other soldiers (besides X, as he was still rubbing his sore arm), ran at the door in an attempt to break in down. In an awkward turn of events, the large door easily burst open without much effort at all. 

"Oy... figures," X muttered as the group began to file into the building. "We waste all our time here arguing with some pathetic oaf, all when we could've just nudged the friggin' entrance down in less than a second. Oh well... what're you gunna do...?" With that in mind, he ran into the building to join his enthusiastic comrades. 

* * *

"Oh Jeebus, what in the name of holy hell is happening _now_?" panicked a fully stressed out Sigma, who watched the horrifying pictures displayed on the radar screens and the security cameras. 

"Oh my... this is REALLY not a good thing," replied the head of security, Gelves, a mostly yellow-armored Maverick that represented something of an eagle. He too watched in utter horror as four seperate groups of Hunters stormed on into the building, all of them almost coming in at the same time. He, Sigma, and three other X-Hunters behind him were all safely stationed in the second-floor security deck, which was used to keep tabs on pretty much all activity that occured inside the building. Some of the soldiers Sigma saw file in he would recognize almost anywhere - glimpses of X and Zero, as it seemed. 

"It's those rotten Hunters again! DAMMIT!" the Reploid King slammed a fist on a desk beside him. "They've managed to track us, I _knew_ it! Persistent bastards! Lord knows what they're going to do to us now... and Vile isn't even finished, for Chrissakes..." 

"Isn't there ANYTHING we can do, Gelves?" asked Agile, who was standing beside a distressed Sigma. "We've got some pretty strong security. Isn't there some kind of emergency device for a dire situation such as this?" 

The eagle chuckled nervously. "Well, you'd really think that, wouldn't you?" he said depressingly. "Unfortunately, since we built this fortress sort of recently and have used up most of our funding on battle armors, the outside towers, the food, and a LOT on bringing Vile up to code, we sort of nixed the idea of an emergency security system. To be totally honest with you, we never really expected anything like this to happen so suddenly..." 

"Well, we sure as hell have to do SOMETHING!" Sigma shouted once again, but with a bit more determination than previously. He turned to face the three X-Hunters waiting anxiously behind him. "Alright, listen up you three. We're going to need to move _extremely_ fast during this operation, or Lord knows that those Hunters could storm up here and kill the whole lot of us without us even getting the chance to put up a decent fight. And you know how horribly embarrassing THAT would be." He first pointed a finger to Agile, standing beside him. "Agile, you have the most important job of them all. I want you to contact Serges IMMEDIATELY and tell him to activate Vile and bring him back up to the third floor... though I'm not sure if the operation is totally completed yet, I don't doubt that they're ALMOST done, so it should suffice. Violen, I'd like you to stay here on the second floor, organize all of the soldiers here, and wait in the lobby. If any of the Hunters manage to make it up here, which I really don't doubt, then I'd like you to stage a surprise attack and try to overpower... well, at _least_ subdue them. Darrick, I'd like you to head up to the third floor and, contrary to what I'm having Violen do, I want you to get all of the soldiers the hell out of there. The lobby is where Vile and I will be waiting for the Hunters... I don't want any unnecessary injuries. When - or if - you finish your jobs, I want you to head back to the third floor just in case any problems so happen to arise. Got that, you three?" 

"Got it," Darrick confirmed, and ran out the door as quickly as possible. He was soon followed by the other three, who filed out of the room just as quickly as the young Colonel had. After they had left, Sigma hastily turned back to his head of security. 

"Gelves, put me on speaker so I can talk to the people on the first floor for a moment," he asked between breaths. "I need to tell warn them ASAP." 

"Yessir, will do," Gelves replied, as he put his master on the speaker. 

* * *

"Aww, jeez," muttered a somewhat surprised Zero, who caught sight of a large group of soldiers, the whole lot of them staring at his Unit with extremely confused faces. Zero and his Unit 0 had just headed into the back lobby of the fortress's bottom floor, without many problems; there weren't even any guards stationed. "Did we barge in here at a bad time...?" 

"No, I don't really _think_ so..." muttered a red-haired human standing beside him. "From the looks on their faces, it doesn't seem like they really were expecting us or anything." 

"Well, STILL... they might be armed or something!" Zero commented. "We can't really take any chances, can we? Look, I'll try to talk to them or something, but if they resist, we'll have to..." 

Suddenly, an engrossing about of static and feedback began to clang through the air, causing almost everybody in the room to cover their ears in pain. Finally, the horrible noises cleared after about ten seconds, and an extremely familiar, less pain-causing voice replaced it: 

"ATTENTION ALL MAVERICKS ON LEVEL 1 OF THE BUILDING!" the voice screamed. "WE'VE REPORTED A DISTURBANCE ON YOUR LEVEL, WHICH HAVE BEEN PROPERLY IDENTIFIED TO BE THE MAVERICK HUNTERS. IF YOU SEE ANY OF THEM IN ANY KIND OF SITUATION, I ORDER YOU TO ATTACK THEM MERCILESSLY WITH ANY KIND OF WEAPON YOU MAY HAVE ON YOU. EXTREME PREJUDICE ONLY. THAT IS ALL... UH, HAVE A NICE DAY, I GUESS." There was a tinny clicking sound, and the transmission abruptly ended there. 

"Oh, good Lord, that friggin' voice again," Zero said to himself in complete frustration. "And he mentioned Mavericks, too. Of course, everything has to happen just as it ALWAYS does... figures..." 

Suddenly, every single one of the apparent Mavericks surrounding the group searched themselves anxiously in search of some weapon - ANY weapon - they could use in their own defense. After a few seconds, all they could each really find were these small, dark black pistols, which didn't actually look very threatening. They all pulled them out practically at the same time, most of them aiming straight for Zero. 

"Oboy," Zero muttered, feeling a bit unnerved at the sight. "Looks like you've all got pistols... that's great... now let's just _put 'em down now_..." 

Before he could continue, however, one of the Mavericks pulled the trigger of his gun, firing a small, concentrated red beam of energy at the Crimson One. That beam of energy, however, was actually light energy; the little laser-type light simply illuminated an extremely small amount of Zero's armor, causing absolutely no damage to the reploid's body armor whatsoever. The soldier who fired the gun, a partially armored female reploid soldier, stared at here weapon with confusion. 

"What the... wait a second!" she shouted. "I think all of these guns are used solely for target practice... they can only shoot little laser lights!" 

Another soldier, panicking along with the others, shot his gun as well and discovered the same result. "Well, what're we supposed to do NOW?" he yelled. 

After that remark, all of the soldiers stared at eachother painfully, each one realizing what they had to do. In an act of severe cowardice, the entire massing of soldiers ran in all directions, yelling in vain for their mommies to save them and pushing and shoving for the exits in a mad frenzy for their lives. After only about a minute, everybody in the room had already filed out, save for the Hunters, of course. Zero considered the thought of pursuing them, but quickly decided that it really wasn't worth the trouble; he was far too shocked and appalled. 

"Oy... this is just pathetic, it really is," Zero commented, viewing the now completely empty back lobby. "Lord knows what the hell Sigma and the others have done to this place. Well, at least we _know_ that these people are Mavericks now..." Pausing to think for a moment, the Crimson Hunter pulled out his communicator and sent a signal back to X's own communicator on the other side of the building. "Hey, X... you there, buddy?" he asked him. "You gotten inside the building yet?" 

* * *

"Yeah, we're all inside," X responded to his friend from the main lobby. "We had something of an unpleasant run-in with a guard from the outside, but we got in all right. How about you?" 

"Well, there weren't really any guards," Zero replied. "But there were a lot of soldiers inside, though. They all retreated after they realized their weapons were completely useless, though. Pretty saddening." 

"Yeah... similar story here," the Unit 17 Commander agreed. Neither of them actually mentioned anything about finding out about Sigma and the Mavericks' presence; it wasn't like they really needed to. "Anyways, I'm headed upstairs with my Unit after we're done searching for Vile down here. You doing the same?" 

"Yep," Zero stated simply, "and we'll meet ya up there." 

"Alright then," X finished, ending the transmission. Well, here they went again... Sigma, and his Mavericks, were all over the building. Not that the azure Hunter was terribly surprised, but... well, the information was still somewhat hard on him. To put things simply, having to face Sigma again really, really sucked... and he also didn't doubt that he'd be forced to fight Vile, too, but that was always debatable. 

"Alright, everybody!" X announced to his Unit, deciding that he shouldn't keep on pondering on things like that all the time. "We've gotta search this floor for Vile high and low, so let's get this started, shall we? I want you guys to split up into a few groups and search this entire lobby. If we don't happen to find him, up the stairs we go to the second floor, where we'll meet up with Zero and the others. Alright, let's get this show on the road!" 


	24. One Gone Astray

**Chapter 24: One Gone Astray**

* * *

Violen was an extremely loyal and trusting reploid; he as a Maverick would never cease to follow orders from his High Commanding Officer, Sigma, and eqaully for his other partners, Agile and the other X-Hunters in general. Though he may have not always done his job the way his comrades would always desire him to (which, unfortunately, occured most of the time), Violen would never, under any real circumstances, give up on a job, no matter how bleak a positive outcome became. And, on most occasions, Sigma and the others would completely fail to realize that... the leaders usually demanded near-perfection, sadly, and Violen wasn't exactly one to live up to those standards, mostly due to his somewhat unintellegent nature. 

But that wasn't the only one of poor Violen's vices, however. There was another small quality that the Maverick behemoth usually kept anywhere but public, one he never had really mustered up the guts to tell anybody about. And that small vice - or fear, which makes more sense in his situation - was a fear of working alone. Oh, of course it was usually fine to be executing some sort of important job/tactic/attack when there was somebody there to guide him and help him out with it. But without that? Oy... he was a like a puppydog abandoned in the Sahara Desert. 

Which is what made it all the harder for him to complete another integral task ordered by him from Sigma... one for him to do alone. But then again, the job wasn't _that_ big, and the other X-Hunters had more important jobs they needed to attend to, anyways... 

But DAMN, did Violen run like the dickens from the security deck to maintain his post in the second floor lobby. Sure, he knew perfectly well that running so dangerously fast wasn't exactly the most necessary (or safe, for that matter) thing to do, considering he was already _on_ the second floor, he could've cared less. He just wanted to get his job done already, and to get it done before X and Zero's Units could cause any significant damage. This, however, required rallying up all of the soldiers on that floor and getting them to pounce on the Hunters' unsuspecting Units. And that would be much, much harder than Violen had really expected it to be. 

"Everybody here on the second floor! ALL MAVRICKS!" shouted the distressed X-Hunter as he dashed through the large corridors of the second floor, flailing his arms around madly in a vain gesture indicating that the soldiers should follow him. "Everybody, gather up and meet me at the SECOND FLOOR LOBBY, ovah thissa way! If you don't, the Hunters are gonna SMACKA your faces, along with many other cruel and unusual punishments!" 

But it was all in vain, sadly; many of these newer Mavericks lacked something integral that the Mavericks of olden days used to keep themselves grounded - a thicker skin (figuratively). As if they could barely hear what their superior officer was shouting at them, the Maverick recruits ran around in nervous circles (some shouting "MEDIE! MEDIE!" over and over), punching out their own allies in order to run to a safer locale before their 'friends', many soldiers retreating from the mishap on the first floor downstairs... Violen even managed to get a glimpse of one or two of them bothering to leap out of the windows, completely shattering the glass - and ALMOST themselves - in the process. 

"Guyyyyyyyys! Come ON!" Violen shouted at the panicked soliders once again, to no real avail. "This is really NOT COOL! What am I supposed to do, fight all of the friggin' Hunters by MYSELF?! I NEED SOME HEEEEELP!" 

But it was hopeless, as Violen soon realized, to get anybody's attention. All that he could really do was head for the lobby and wait for the Hunters to arrive... yes, he'd wait, and if he died, well, than he died. So, in pure Violen fashion, he marched bravely into the lobby to face the people who may very well have caused his ultimate end... 

...and then stopped cold in his tracks. "Guh... nobody here...?" he muttered to nobody in particular, looking around the large, barren room which usually withheld some of the most Maverick activity in the entire building. But nay, the entire area was totally cleared out, with an eerie kind of silence... 

"Oy... well, I guess I'd better wait somewhere else," Violen murmured again, the courage he had held before now beginning to deterierate quite a bit. As he began to slowly inch out of the room, he caught notice of a yellow-tinted figure in the far corner who seemed to be completely dormant; most likely asleep, due to the fact that he was still breathing (which was a somewhat different process with reploids than humans). He also had another distinctive quality, which was the fact that a small liquor bottle hung off of his limp hand, spilling a bit of a dark liquid on the floor. Though Violen considered the option of leaving the poor souse alone and saving himself, he then also considered the fact that the slim soldier could have had absolutely no idea about the incoming Hunters headed straight for them, who would cause him a great deal of distress had they the desire. In the end, the large X-Hunter's strong loyalty to his cause led him to help the man... so he took a deep breath and did all he could. 

"Hey, buddy!" Violen almost shouted, jogging over to the Maverick Van Winkle. "Wake up, wake up, wake UP! There's a pretty big group of Hunters headed up here, and if we don't get the hell OUTTA this lobby, we're gunna be french-fried!" Luckily, the Commander's panicky yelps were just what was needed to jolt the poor sleeper back to his senses. 

"Ahh..." he muttered grogily, slowly rising himself to his feet. "Alrighhhhty, okay, letzzzz go to the movies, Sall-eeeeee..." The man, obviously drunk Out of his gourd, stumbled around the room clumsily in a completely vain attempt to maintain his balance. His booze-induced stumblings eventually led him to the middle of the lobby, where Violen was standing. To the behemoth's surprise, the man embraced him in a large bear-hug, for no real reason whatsoever. 

"Hey, maaaan... I love ja, you know that?" the intoxicated reploid muttered to his superior. 

"Hey, hey, HEY!" Violen shouted, trying to back away from the loony. "First off, I really don't swing that way. Secondly, there's a FRICKIN' GROUP OF FRICKIN' HUNTERS WHO'RE ABOUT TO FRICKIN' BLOW OUR FRICKIN' BLODDY FRICKIN' HEADS OFF. Do I need to make that any CLEARER...?" 

"J'know whut, pallll-zey?" the poor drunk rambled on, clinging on to Violen's shoulders despite his attempts to break free. "Yooza allll rite. I DUN CARE what zoz peoplez says about the timez yoo took uh ride on the Tobacco leeeeeef, I STILL love ya the way you are... dun change aftur yoo gradjuate frum hieeee-skool..." 

"You think I'm not serious about this? WELL, THEN YOU'RE THINKIN' FRICKIN' _WRONG_, palzy!" Violen now shouted, taking a tone of seriousness that he rarely ever used. "Get this through your FRICKIN' WHISKIED-UP HEAD! We're going to DIE if we stay up here! Hunters, my friend! HUNTERS! THEY WANNA KEEEEL US! Can I make that ANY CLE-" 

"I gotza somethin' to CUNFESS, maaaan..." the drunken slug continued, denying Violen any more chances to panic. "Nowwww, lizen heur. You know I love your mamma, your pappa, your brutha, your sista, your grannmutha, your grannfathua, your a'nt, your unc, n' alllllll your cuzinz... but MAN, what I LUUUUVED the most was that GOOD TIME I had wit'chur WIFE LAST NIGHT!" The reploid then proceeded then flashed Violen a few winks of the eye, obviously suggesting something on the vulgar and inappropriate side. 

"Aww, YEECH! Get OFF me, you weirdo!" Violen shouted at his harrasser, nudging him away and causing him to stumble madly around the room on some seemingly endless loop. It was a weird thing - for the first time in quite a while, the X-Hunter was actually feeling some awkward kind of intellectual superiority to somebody else. I mean, c'mon... he knew damned well that, compared to that crazed drunkard, he could be viewed as the next William Shakespeare. The other X-Hunters probably wouldn't object to that... well, probably. 

Before Violen could finish his mental pondering, however, an unnatural rattling sound began to ring in his metallic hearing devices. It was coming from below the floor... a clanging of feet, perhaps? It was somewhat hard to tell, at first... but soon enough, the clanging began to become louder and louder, so loud that it became extremely close to the being level with the flooring that Violen stood on. Then, the Maverick heard a familiar voice from the stairway below him, one that he never liked to hear... 

"Alright, guys..." the somewhat low-toned voice began. "We've searched all through the bottom floor, and we haven't found jack, unfortunately - same thing with X's Unit, as he reported to me just now. But, just in case we don't run into the same incident that we shoved ourselves in when we _first_ got in here, I'm going to perform a small visual scouting of the area, just to make sure things're clear. X's Unit should be joining us shortly, as will Magma's. So wait here, I'll hopefully be back in just a second..." 

_Oh Jeebus, JEEEEEEbuzzz..._ Violen mentally panicked. _That... that voice again... I think that's ZERO's voice!!!_

"Oh, mutha frackin' great," he whispered, not really caring if the drunken Maverick stumbling in the background actually heard him or not. "Now ZERO is coming... I've gotta do something... QUICK..." 

In a desperate maneuver, the bulky Maverick grabbed his 'companion' by his arm and pulled him forcefully over to a dark corner of a right-side hallway adjacent to the main lobby, where he couldn't easily be seen by any wandering eyes. Crouching down to the ground, he kept a firm hold on his intoxicated friend's mouth, preventing him from making any kind of outburst that would give them away. Though the slim Maverick kicked and squirmed in a vain attempt to regain freedom, Violen ignored him for a while as he set all his attention on what he could hear from the other room; and, soon enough, he could hear the soft tapping of metallic boots echoing from the smooth flooring. His foe had arrived. 

_Please, whatever deity is up there, if you can hear me now..._ Violen thought frantically, his adrenaline pumping like crazy. _Please... don't let that red freak find me out...!_

* * *

The first thing that Zero noticed about this lobby in particular was that it was quiet; really, REALLY quiet. There was one thing Zero wasn't particularly fond of - any eerie kind of silence. Whenever he strolled into a room and came face to face with the silence, it only took a very short while for trouble to come rushing after it. That trouble usually came in the form of a large, threatening enemy, or some large grouping of enemies... it was hard to tell exactly which one was worse. 

Before doing any real searchwork, he glanced briefly around the room to check out his surroundings; surprisingly, the room was actually pretty pleasant looking, considering the general nature of the people who ran it. It wasn't really that big of a lobby, but it was still a bit bigger than the lobby downstairs. The lights were a bit dim, but that didn'nt bother the Crimson Hunter too much... he'd faced worse. He could still see seperate sets of doors aligning the walls on each side, likely leading to stairs or dormitory areas, with two large hallways breaching the back corners of the room. There was a wall that formed a separation between these two side hallways, which Zero noticed clearly from the moment he walked in - the reason being was that there was a large, red-tinted banner covering it that revealed the Maverick insignia, the classic alteration of the Greek letter 'Sigma' (for obvious reasons). If Zero had withheld any previous doubts about Mavericks owning this entire fortress, they had been sent down the crapper by that sight. 

_Well, there ya have it, folks!_ Zero thought. _I guess that concludes things... Irregies dun gots dis nice little edifice. But this floor in particular seems kinda ghostly... probably best I keep my guard up._

The Hunter, attempting to be as cautious and silent as he could possibly be, walked a bit further into the lobby, first beginning to approach the left side of the room near the left hallway. It was only a few seconds later when Zero was forced to hear one of the loudest, most annoying belches he could have ever heard in his life. 

"BUUUUUUUUUUURP!" went the noise, snapping Zero into action almost immediately. Using his quick reflexes, he unsheathed his infamous beam saber, it's greenish glow illuminating most of the area around him. That noise... it had come from the other hallway, Zero's right side. Somebody must've been there... 

"Alright, buddy!" the blonde reploid shouted at the opposite end of the room, his saber still pulsating in front of his face. "I know you're in there, Captain Indigestion. Don't think you can fool me... reveal yourself to me NOW, and I'll consider letting you go. If NOT..." 

The threatening words echoed effectively down the other hallway, no doubt reaching the ears of that sneaky (and blatantly rude) Maverick. Yes, he was certain it was a Maverick... had it been a member of someboy else's Unit, they would probably respond to Zero's yelling. But no, this fellah didn't seem like he was willing to be found out. It was made obvious when, after the loud shoutings coming from the Crimson One, no response came - just total silence once again. Something was very fishy here. 

Still keeping his blade unsheathed, Zero kept his eyes sharp as he continued to advance towards the place where the voice had been coming from... it was pretty much identical to the other hallway, though it seemed as if it were a little darker than it's mirror image. That didn't phase Zero, per usual... with his saber at hand, everything could be seen pretty easily. As he continued to slowly advance down the somewhat-long hallway, he began to hear something else coming from behind him; a soft chattering noise, like somebody muttering something, followed by the sound of muffled jarbling that was distinctly louder that the chattering. It caught Zero's attention immediately, as it was coming from the exact same place that the belch had come from - closer to the entrance of the hallway, behind him... 

"C'mon, now, you're just making this MUCH harder than it has to be..." shouted Zero again, his voice echoing in the same manner as before. "I'm going to find you out whether you show yourself or not... it's the simple truth! I really hate wasting time with this kind of bull, so if you'd just come out RIGHT NOW, it would make my life a helluva lot easier..." 

But alas, no other sounds came... they ceased the moment Zero finished talking, just like before. This was the time in which the elite Hunter began to grow extremely impatient; he had better things to do at the time, and searching for some belching moron wasn't exactly high up on his things-to-do list. But then again, this person might now something about the location of Sigma and the others... 

"Alright, then!" Zero bellowed. "Last straw. I'm ending this little charade _right freakin' now_..." 

Shutting off his neon blade for a moment, he rapidly raised his free left arm and smoothly converted it into an arm cannon. After letting his systems charge for a second or two, he aimed the cannon directly at the ceiling near where the voice was heard and fired a small-yet-effective shot of blueish plasma. The shot screamed through the imposing air and connected forcefully into the concrete supporter, ripping through it easily and causing a small explosion that lit up most of the room for a brief while. Due to the force of the shot, chunks of the ceiling began to rain down on that darkened area, and soon enough some very audible yelping noises could be heard coming from there. Zero's little random act of violence proved very useful, just as he had planned; not one, but TWO figures stumbled out of the falling concrete's way, a large bulky one dragging a somewhat lanky one. As Zero approached the two, he was able to get a good look at them - the lanky one was of yellowed-hue, but didn't look like somebody the Hunter knew. The other, however, he recognized almost immediately. The bulky figure, as he remembered, could be none other than... 

"VIOLEN!" Zero spat out at the Maverick angrily, leveling his buster right in his direction. "I _knew_ somebody like you would be sneaking around here!" 

"GHAA!" the large reploid shouted, cowering to the ground with a mix of shock and utter fear on his face. The other reploid seemed a bit less frightened by the threat that had been presented before him, and just continued to stumble around the room awkwardly, like usual. Zero ignored him, passing him off as not much of a threat... the big guy was the one the Hunter had the beef with. As he kept his buster leveled at his adversary, he began to notice that the aftereffects of his plasma shot were beginning to wear off a bit, now with smoke rising from the building's wound. 

"Alright, my little Maverick friend... now is the time for you to do a little explaining," Zero threatened, his buster glowing faintly. 

"I know! I KNOW..." Violen yelped in panic, not wanting a large ball of plasma to be embedded in his chest. "Don't kill me, please! I'll tell you what you need to know... if you'd just calm yourself down for a minute, I'll tell you everything..." 

"Whoza hell iz THIS guy?!" shouted the still intoxicated man to Zero's right, who was now taking more notice at the scarlet assailant in front of him. "I've neva seen HIS face 'round heeee-yah..." 

"What the-? Who in Lucas's name are YOU?" Zero asked him right back, uttering the name of a human who he held a surprisingly high amount of respect for. "Violen! You know this guy...?" 

"Well... not really," the Maverick muttered, still a bit worried about the cannon aimed right at his face. "I... I sorta just found 'em here. But I'll set the record straight when I say that he does NOT represent me in any way whatsoever." 

"You SHUT UP!" shouted the drunken man once again, pointing a damning finger at his supposed comrade. "You... you dunno me, palzEE. I work long 'n hard EVERY fliggin' DAY, no breakz orrrr strinG CheeSE... and then, thizz red guy comez in 'n startz insulting my LITTLE BABEE BOY! Youza best stttay away from him, I knowz what kinda influence peeeeople likez you HAVE ON INNOZINT LITTUL KIDZ..." The man then began to approach Zero, with a strange kind of malice in his eyes. "And youz KIL'd mah UNCUL, youuuuuuu! YOU TOOK AWAY HIZ PRIZ'D ICE CREEEEM BAR! AND I, AZ HIZ DEZENDINT, HAVE COME TO RECLAIM IT!!!" He raised his arm for a punch, but only managed to produce a slow, extremely weak attack that passed right by Zero's face in seemingly slow motion. He then stumbled back off, taking seemingly no notice of the two, and rubbed himself unnaturally against the wall. 

Zero was still in a bit of shock. "Oh...KAY," the Crimson Hunter muttered at the situation, very confused as to what had just happened. As he stood there utterly confused at the situation, he failed to notice that the intoxicated reploid's little follies were actually a blessing in disguise for the distressed Violen; during all of the confusion, the bulky reploid began to slowly inch away from the scene, unnoticed by Zero. Unfortuntely for him, however, he backed into another set of metallic boots, and considerably large ones at that. He stopped cold; it certainly wasn't the drunk, who was near where Zero was. Then who the hell...? 

"Well, looks like I got here just in time, eh?" commented a soft voice coming from the figure. "Violen... what a _pleasure_ to see you around here again!" 

He didn't want to look back, he already knew who it was, he really did... but he looked back anyway, staring directly into the face of the feared MegaMan X, the other world renowned Maverick Hunter and right up there with Zero in terms of ability. X, surprisingly, didn't appear to be too shocked at his enemy's presence in the room; it was almost as if he had been expecting something like this all along. He, unlike Zero, did not brandish his arm cannon... I mean, this was X we were talking about. But still, he could just as easily... 

"Hoboy, hoboy, hoboy..." Violen muttered, backing away from the boy in blue. "I am... NOT in a good position..." 

"Oh my, aren't you the quick-thinking one, eh?" X muttered sarcastically. "Hey, Zero. You might want to at least _try_ to keep an eye on this guy..." 

"Hey hey HEY," Zero snapped at his friend in self-defense. "It's not as easy as it looks. I mean... this other guy causes a lot more distraction than you might think." 

"Other guy...?" X replied in confusion, directing his glance to the yellow-tinted man stumbling around next to his friend. "Who's he supposed to be?" 

"Your MOMMA!" shouted the drunken Maverick, pointing a damning finger at the new arrival. "Joo... joo just SHUT UP, right nauw... you dunno me! Y'see... y'see what's 'appenin here? We gotta RED guy... we gotta BLUE guy... I'm pretty shur I'm uh YELLOW guy... we're gonna start havin' ALL THE FRIGGIN' COLORZ OV DA RAINBOW bargin' in heyur... it's CRAZY, man..." The Maverick then stopped dead in his tracks, gave one last ridiculous to X, and fell forward flat on his face, his body sprawled on the hallway floor. His mouth was still partway opened, and a soft garbling sound could still be heard emitting from it. 

X, fully traumatized by the entire ordeal thus far, buried his face in his left hand. "Oh, come ON," X muttered painfully. "First I deal with brick-throwing French guards, and now this...?" 

Zero shot his friend a befuddled glance. "Err... brick-throwing French guards...?" 

"Please, PLEASE... just don't ask." 

"Will do," said Zero worriedly. "Now back to business. What should we do with the big guy here, my friend? Deep-fry 'em?" 

Violen shivered at that remark, still lacking the guts to get back on his hind legs. Zero wasn't a guy who really took crap from his enemies - killing Mavericks without much second thought was something he happened to specialize in. The bulky reploid was relieved, however, when he saw the azure X shaking his head in disapproval. 

"Naw, sorry Zero..." the famed Hunter apologized. "I don't think there's really any need for that. He probably knows something important, I'm bettin' ya he knows _everything_ about what Mr. Sigma and the others are planning to do..." 

Violen cringed a bit. How did they find out about Sigma so quickly...? Oh well, I guess there were some obvious things around here that gave us away... 

Suddenly, like the sound of heavenly angels sounding from above, a clearly audible beeping sound began to emit from where X was standing. The Hunter stopped talking immediately, reaching for a small blackish box with an antenna at his side - a communicator, no doubt. He checked out the radio frequency quickly before looking up to face his partner. 

"We've got a message..." he told him. "It seems like it's coming from Magma's unit. I'll take this one, you keep an eye on Mister Maverick Bait here." 

"Yuperoo..." replied Zero, keeping his trusty buster leveled at his enemy's head level. X pressed the little button on his communicator, like usual, and spoke casually to the person on the other end if the line. 

"This is Commander X of the 17th Unit... would this be the 14th Unit?" he asked kind of lamely. 

"Yeah, that would be us!" the Hunter on the other end responded, sounding a little panicked. "Sorry if we've interrupted you during anything important, sir... but we've just ran into a little, well... predicament." 

X furrowed his brow a bit. "Predicament?" he asked. "What kind...?" 

"Well, err..." the man on the other end muttered nervously. "What, uh... what happened was that, erm... our leader sort of... ABANDONED us." 

"..._what_?" X exclaimed in confusion. "You mean, Magma Dragoon? He _abandoned_ you...?" 

"Yeah, well... it was something like that..." the man grumbled. "What happened was, we had entered through the left side of the building, which was really just one large stairwell. Now, y'see, there are this translucsent walls that separate them from the lobby rooms, and, well... when we reached the second floor, he just... paused, dead in his tracks. He was staring through the wall, watching something really intently. Before we could ask him about what was going on or what he was staring at, he bolted out of there like a bat out of hell, all the way up those freakish twisting stairways. He stopped when he reached a certain floor... the third one, I think, but we couldn't tell. And we can't follow him or anything, since he scorched up the entire stairway... there's barely anything left of it now. We're kind of in a rough spot, to say the least..." 

"Oh, friggin' GREAT," yelled Zero sarcastically before X motioned for him to keep his trap shut. 

"Alright, buddy..." X began again. "Would you mind telling me where exactly you guys are right now?" 

"Yeah... we're near the main floor's stairway now," the man replied. "All of us are here... well, with the exception of Magma, of course." 

"Well, alright, then..." X muttered a bit, pondering what to say next. "Right now, I'm thinking that the best thing for you guys to do right now is to get the hell out of the building, until I can update you on the situation further..." 

Before he could finish, there was a second beeping noise coming from X's same communicator. Stopping for a moment, the blue Hunter realized that yet another message was being transmitted to him, this time from a somewhat obscure location... one he really couldn't recognize. He hurriedly ended his conversation with the man in the 14th Unit and switched frequencies to the location of the other 'caller'. 

"This is Commander X of the 17th Unit..." X began again in his usual professionalized tone. "Uh, whoever this is, please identify yourself and specif-" 

"X... that is you," replied the voice, a very low-toned, very familiar voice. "I had a feeling I'd be able to reach you... still on the second floor, I see. It baffles me as to why you're still down there..." 

"Waitasecond - _Magma?!_" X almost shouted, a look of shock now on his face. "Where the hell ARE you? Your radio frequency is WAY off..." 

"I'm amazed, X," the intellectual-sounding Dragoon interrupted from the other end. "Tell me, my friend, why is it that you sound so surprised to hear my voice now? Nothing's changed... unless, of course, you were tipped off by those nice fellows buried in the side of the building... poor fools..." 

"Just FORGET about that!" X exclaimed, now starting to get infuriated. "I just want you to tell it to me straight RIGHT NOW. Where the hell ARE you, Magma? I heard you abandoned your ENTIRE Unit back there... what's going on...?" 

"Heh heh heh..." the Commander chuckled sadistically. "You sound very flustered today... incompetence up the yin-yang, I presume. We'll, just so you don't get too huffy about the entire situation, I'll give you a bit of interesting information to help you out: to put things bluntly, I making quite a bit more progress than you are now. As a matter of fact, I could be right over your heads, as we speak..." 

"Magma, would you cut it out?" X ordered. "This ain't very funny. Seriously, I want you to get your butt down here and explain to me just what the hell is going..." 

"Sigma's up here, you know," Magma blurted out, interrupting X once again. "Up here, on the third floor. I believe he's waiting for a confrontation right in the lobby..." 

"...what?!" X exclaimed, now starting to lose it. Zero could hear Magma's voice too, and had a similar look on his face; Violen was just worried that one of the Hunters had discovered Sigma's whereabouts. "Magma, how do _you_ know where Sigma is...?" 

"I saw him myself," Magma began again, "just as my Unit and I were advancing up along the stairways near the side of the building. There were these walls... somewhat transparent, as I could almost see everything that was happening in the rooms beyond. Just as we had approached floor two, I managed to nab a look at the great Sigma, bolting out of some room and running upstairs like a banshee... so I followed him. Followed him all the way up here..." 

"But how do you know for _certain_ that it's Sigma?!" X queried, becoming slightly mad. "You said that those walls were translucent... not everything could be seen clearly. Maybe that reploid you saw wasn't Sigma, but some other guy... you're eyes could've been playing tricks on you." 

"Impossible," Magma stated simply. "If it wasn't Sigma, then why would the Reploid King be waiting right around the corner, in that humongous lobby? He's waiting for the two of you, I believe... standing as still as a statue, right here on the third floor. But he wouldn't fight alone, I don't think... no, I would guess that a very special friend of yours is going to be waiting there with him very, very shortly. Should make things a lot of fun for me..." 

Zero almost choked at that statement, along with everyone else in the room. "Sp... 'special friend'? Don't tell me he means..." 

"Vile!" Violen blurted out, surprising himself. "Sigma... he ordered him to be transported to the third floor..." 

"Oh, don't tell me..." X moaned. "Magma, if Sigma and Vile are going to be up there, then I'm gonna have to have you down here, where we can discuss strategy. It's the safest thing to do..." 

Magma almost went into hysterics on the other line. "X, you fool!" he exclaimed. "How dense can you get? There won't be any outside interferences from you, Zero, or anybody else. I'm making this my own battle - only I will fight. The matter will be taken care of by me and me alone..." 

"Magma, have you gone completely NUTZO?!" X shouted. "Listen to me. If you march in there and fight Vile and Sigma on your OWN, you'll be overpowered and eventually killed. You can't fight both of them at the same time... wait for Zero and I. It shouldn't take us too long for us to reach you." 

"Wrong again!" Magma claimed, now sounding as if he was taking pleasure from bugging his comrade. "Don't underestimate me, X... I cover my tracks. As of now, all methods of transportation to any floor above the one you're on are completely disabled. The stairs, the elevators... even teleportation won't prove to be of any use at a range like this. It's that simple... you lollygaggers are stuck in that hellhole of a second floor, with absolutely no way of interfering with my battle. While you remain nulled, I get to make some actual progress." He huffed a little bit. "And as to me getting killed... well, let me say that I don't appreciate you demeaning my power like that. Sigma and Vile will fight with me alone... and I will kill each of them. The two of you aren't the only ones capable of defeating powerful Mavericks, you realize. About time you stand aside and let somebody else take care of things for once, eh...?" 

"Magma! Cut this crap out NOW! You're talking crazy!..." 

"Sorry... we're done here," Magma rasped. "Enjoy wasting your time, per usual..." 

"Magma, WAIT!" X shouted to his comrade. But it was too late - X's ears were now met only with an annoying static-y sound, and the little red light on his communicator had been fizzeled out. In a bit of bittersweet silence, he shut the black box off and placed it to his side once again. 

"He said that it's impossible for us to get upstairs..." muttered Zero, still chilled as to what Magma had just said. "Is... is that true?" 

"Good question... I'll check it out myself," X replied before sprinting off in the opposite direction, leaving Zero to keep Violen in check. Inspecting all of the stairways and elevators, he grimly discovered that Magma's little prophecy was actually true - every stairway was now replaced with a pile of ashes, with little bits of the stairs still crumbling down lifelessly to the ground below. The elevators held a similar story - all of the cables had been singed, with the elevators themselves lying in a useless heap on the ground. Magma really had covered his tracks... there was really nothing they could do now. 

Soon enough, Zero came into the lobby to meet up with X, a frightened Violen still in tow. The bulky Maverick was now on his hind legs, with the drunken reploid now slung over his shoulder (Violen now believed that the man was his responsibility). Zero approached his azure friend, who was now staring listlessly at another broken-down stairway in the main room. "Oy... I'm figuring we're not in a very good position?" he stated. 

"You're damned right, we are!" X exclaimed, still staring at the destruction that Magma had caused. "Seems that Dragoon is really, really serious about this whole thing... he's gunna try and kill Sigma - and maybe even Vile - on his own..." He then swerved in Violen's direction, his buster aimed directly at his face. "Hey, Violet Boy! I figure you know this building pretty well... I want you to show Zero and I a way to get up to the third floor. NOW." 

"What? You can't be serious!" Violen snapped, almost offended. "Why should I tell you anything? Just so you can march on upstairs and kill our leader and friend?! Well, you can just forget that right now!" 

"You're going to tell us," Zero told him, "because you just happen to be at the wrong end of our happy little arm cannons here." 

Upon hearing that statement, Violen stared back and forth at both of his enemies' weapons, and realized that he really didn't have much of a choice. "Alright, alright..." he agreed, admitting to defeat. "Just... follow me, I think I might now a way upstairs... it's a little risky, but..." 

"We don't care. Just show us, NOW," Zero ordered him. "Oh, and X... what do you think we should tell the other Hunters near the first floor? We can't just leave them there..." 

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," X assured him. "I'll probably just order them to get the hell-diddly-el out of this building as quickly as possible. I hate forcing them to abandon their duties, but... well, to be honest, my gut is telling me that things are about to get pretty hectic from here on out. I would hate to lose more Hunters than we need to..." 

* * *

Magma Dragoon, fully pleased with the conversation that had just taken place, shut off his communicator to drown out X's incessant yelling. To make sure that no further communications incident would ever cross his path again, he squeezed at the small black box as tightly as possible, until the tiny machine promptly snapped into a large amount of little pieces, which he let fall limply to the ground with a very soft and inaudible clicking sound. There would be no disturbances during this fight whatsoever, Magma thought... this would be genuinely his battle, his one moment to shine. 

He stood as firmly as a rock outside of the third floor lobby, in a hallway on the left side of the room. Sigma was in there, he knew... near the front of the room, beyond Magma's vision at that point. He had been waiting there for only a few minutes now, obviously awaiting a confrontation with both X and Zero. The fool, he didn't realize what he was REALLY up against now... 

It was time. Without any hesitation or second thought in his mind, the Dragoon warrior walked casually down the hallway and straight to the large breach at the end of it. Soon enough he had reached the corner of the hallway, which was now the only thing separating him from his goal. Finally, he left the darkness behind him, entering into the lighted room that served as Sigma's resting place. 

It was strange, at first... it was as if the Reploid King hadn't even taken much notice in him when he first saw the red dragonlike reploid. After a moment, he furrowed his brow a bit at the sight of the foreign warrior, and addressed him in a somewhat angry manner. 

"Hey, you!" he almost shouted. "I thought Darrick ordered all of the Mavericks on this floor to evacuate immediately! Return to your appropriate posts... it's too dangerous to be hanging around here!" 

Magma, amused by this statement, chuckled a bit. "Please," he requested casually. "Don't belittle me by labeling me as a 'Maverick'. I'm nothing of the sort." 

Sigma, a bit taken aback by that comment, widened his eyes. He was dressed in an armor that appeared to be similar to the one he used in the second Rebellion, now donned with a nifty scythe-saber at his side. "Not a... Maverick? Well then what the hell are you, a Hunter?! If that's the case..." He advanced towards the dragon-reploid a bit, brandishing his scythe. 

"What does it matter to you, Sigma?" asked Magma, still standing completely still, with his arms now crossed. "Alliances aren't an issue at the moment. All that matters is that I'm here to destroy you, and what little helpers you've got left around here." 

Though the bald-headed Maverick was surprised at this statement, he still held a twisted grin on his face. "Oh, really? Personally, I have doubts that you'll be able to even get a scratch on me. Foolish Hunter... where is X and Zero? They're the ones I want to fight." 

This comment stirred Magma's composure a bit, the rage inside of him now beginning to come out. "Forget about them!" he yelled. "They're trapped below us... I made sure of that. I'm taking you down MYSELF!" 

"Really, eh...?" Sigma muttered nonchalantly. "Well, how about we make things interesting? I've got a little friend who's been DYING for some fresh Hunter kill ever since he's been activated. Now that X and Zero aren't present, I figure you could provide a nice refresher course for him! He'd love it, I'm sure..." Before continuing, the maniacal reploid pulled up something on his wrist, resembling something like a wristwatch. After pressing a few buttons, he laughed out loud and yelled, "OMEGAVILE! Get your ass OUT HERE!" 

Suddenly, a blinding light of gold and yellow filled the entire space that separated Dragoon and Sigma, one so bright that the two were each forced to cover their eyes almost completely. Awkward whistling sounds began to fill the air as the light soon began to form a shape... the shape of a short, apparently helmetted reploid with features that wouldn't normally frighten anybody. It was like a golden silhouette... with all of the bright lighting in the room, it was extremely hard to get a good look at the figure before them. After a few more seconds, the light finally began to subside, and the figure that replaced it could now be clearly seen. Golden and yellow armor, with some black trimmings; a Maverick insignia painted neatly on his left arm, signifying his loyalties; a helmet serving as his only head, with only total blackness within in... different than before, as if he was almost without a soul; upgraded armor, with a larger-than-normal arm cannon slung fittingly over his right shoulder. Finally, Magma had come face to face with... 

"Vile..." Magma muttered, sounding almost overjoyed. "Finally... I get to meet the real you." 

"OmegaVile!" Sigma shouted almost immediately, pointing a finger at his new adversary. "He's in alliance with the Hunters! Eliminate him immediately... we can't let a fool like this remain alive." He chuckled evily a bit. "But, most importantly, enjoy yourself while doing so!" 

And Vile would do just that. "Yes, Master Sigma..." he replied in a dark, monotone voice, much different than before. He stared straight at the red figure, his eyes lighting up like the fires of Hell. And so the battle of a lifetime was about to begin... 


	25. Tenacious 'D' vs The Mad Maverick

**Chapter 25: Tenacious 'D' Vs. The Mad Maverick**

* * *

X stared to the wavy and desolate desert ground. He'd been instructed not to look to the ominous depths below him, but he couldn't help but stare - it was a pretty loooong way down, X realized, and if he made any kind of slip up or unplanned flick of the wrist, it would be a pretty long way down for him. Oh, sure, the reploid prototype could easily withstand landing safely from a high ways up; he'd done so before, one notable occurance being descending into Sigma's pit during the second Rebellion, and he didn't doubt that he'd survive it once again. 

But what mattered in this situation was the general climbing in the first place - he wasn't exactly enjoying it, and for a good reason, too. The sides of Sigma's fortress were surprisingly rough and jagged, despite the looks of the building from afar, which made things all the more challenging to cling onto. Also, there was the added pressure that one of their closer comrades had plunged himself into something of a life-threatening predicament... X just wished that there could've been some simpler method of transportation. 

"HEY, X!" shouted the voice of Zero from a little higher above. "Let's move it, eh? We haven't got a friggin' DECADE to get all of this business taken care of..." 

"I'm AWARE of that!" X shouted to his partner. "I just can't stand these 'effin conditions anymore, y'know? There's probably an easier way up. I betcha Violen just showed us this route to throw us off while he escaped to safety!" 

"Well, I don't really think the guy really had much of a CHOICE, now did he, X?!" Zero shouted back, gracefully clinging from jag-to-jag; he was enjoying himself much more than his partner was, and thus was making a bit more progress to the surprisingly high-up third floor. "We kind of THREATENED HIM, as you recall. Then we LET him get away, of course with our watchful recruits escorting him out. Also, if you're considering an attempt to climb through the elevator shafts, you can forget it - those godforsaken walls are even more dangerous than these, what with all that ashy crap lining them!" He rolled his eyes a bit at the thought of his partner clumsily trying to scale the shaft - it would have been kind of humorous, actually, had the situation not been so screwed up and serious at the time. 

X glared at his friend as he made a grab for another small metal jag. "I never SAID that..." he barked in annoyance. "I'm just saying, there could've been ways of getting up there more efficiently than jumping out a window and climbing the side of the building..." 

"YES, there _were_, X. But you see, they were kind of INCINERATED," Zero interrupted, forcing X to face the harsh truth. "And because they were INCINERATED, it causes a bit of a conflict, you see. Now, c'mon, keep on climbing. It shouldn't be that much longer now..." 

X remained silent after that comment, still feeling a little sour inside. To be totally honest, the Blue Bomber really couldn't think up a better way to reach the third floor besides this one; Violen's motives seemed suspicious, but his directions were really the only ones they could get. He had a feeling that Violen knew about the jags, just so the two Hunters could be kept off course a little while and give Sigma more time to prepare and such. Also, there wasn't even a certainty that the towering wall would even lead them to the right area of the third floor - they could end up in a trap, perhaps, or walk into where the other X-Hunters, Agile and Serges, were waiting for them (considering they had been revived, of course). X could almost feel the dread of what was to come seep into his very own body, the tension trailing into his occupied fingers... 

...which soon felt absolutely nothing. While in a process of deep thought, it seemed as if some invisible force had pushed X away from the spot he clang on to. It was only a minor push, bit it was enough - X's hold on the wall was somewhat light, as he had been gradually slipping downwards since his mental pondering. The force caused X to plunge from his original position, much to his surprise. He fell almost all the way back to where the window was placed before managing to reattach himself to the building with an outstretched arm. Now in a much worse predicament than before, X was merely hanging by a thread, only managing to keep three or four fingers attached to one smaller-than-usual jag; as he attempted to cling a second hand to another nearby jag, he glared painfully at the speck of red high above him that was his best friend. 

"HEY! CRIMSON WOOKIE BOY!" X shouted to his friend, using one of the more peculiar nicknames used for Zero. "I SEEM TO HAVE HIT A BIT OF A SNAG DOWN HERE!!!" 

Zero, apparently oblivious to X's mighty descent, adjusted his gaze downwards upon hearing his comrade's mournful plea. He was stunned to see that his friend had dropped down quite a ways, now extremely close to where the Hunter elites had just begun climbing. Surprising himself, he took a moment to find humor in the situation. _Did I NOT tell him to keep his eyes open?? Jeez, after all these years, you'd think he'd have learned something since he was activated..._

"Wowie-zowie, X!" Zero bellowed playfully. "Aaaaand once again, you go out of your way to deny every simple bit of advice I tell you. I mean, come ON already, X! If you think I'm going to just jump on down there and save your ass AGAIN due to your own incompetence, well, you can just forget it right now! Time for you to take things into..." 

"IT'S NOT THAT, YOU IDJIT!!!" X screamed, his commonly strong composure now beginning to snap like a twig. "IT WAS SOMETHING ELSE! SOMETHING PUSHED ME DOWN HERE... LIKE A MAGNET, OR SOMETHING!!..." 

"Magnet?! Oh, puh-LEEZE..." Zero interfered, chuckling a bit at X's claim. "That's ridiculous. The Mavericks ditched magnet technology during the middle of the third Rebellion, you know. Don't start making excuses for your own..." 

But that was all Zero would say, as he was soon abruptly cut off by an eerie sort of downward wind pushing lightly against him. Since he had been distracted in his conversation with X, the force was enough to cause him to lose his grip as well, leading him to plummet from his previously commanding height. X nodded with reassurance as the crimson blur stopped itself from falling to the sandy depths with another lucky grab against the building, almost directly above where X had done exactly the same. As X finally managed to lift himself up back to Zero's level, he glared sadistically at his friend, who now was in a complete state of shock. 

"Excuses, eh?" X mocked, chuckling to himself. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's 'careless' in this operation." 

"Ehhh... shut up," Zero snapped, retreiving his grip on the jagged wall once more. "Alright, I'm guessing there's a _little_ magnet force being used here... we'd better be cautious from now on..." 

"Wow. Aren't you a fast one," X groaned, continuing his seemingly eternal climb, making sure to keep an extremely firm hold on the building this time around. It seemed completely plausible that this was just another trap that Violen had cleverly set up for emergency reasons; knowing Violen, however, it was really hard to make accurate judgements with his actions. No risks could be taken, however; this thought became startlingly apparent to X as a new idea revealed itself in his mind. 

"Hey, Zero!" he called to his friend. "I gots me an idea." 

The Crimson One shot another glance at X as he cautiously attached himself to another large wall jag. "I'm all ears, Wonder Boy," he replied nonchalantly, throwing in another unusal nickname. 

"Good to hear, wookie," X snapped back. "Listen up. With this whole magnet thingy set up near the third story window, well... it certainly won't help us out very much in reaching Sigma and the others, correct?" 

Zero promptly groaned. "Yes, X. We've ESTABLISHED that..." he grimaced. 

"Okay then. Now, we don't know if that magnet force is at work around the entire building - it may be just under the windows, to prevent any easy sneak-ins. Thus, I propose we attempt to climb to the side of the window, climbing around it rather than straight towards it. We might be able to get out of the way of the magnets... I'm not exactly 100 percent on it, but it's the best idea I've got right now." 

Zero frowned. "Wow. X, have you really considered the odds of that actually working? The Mavericks can be a bit incompetent at times, but they certainly aren't stupid. If they set up a magnet repellent field, don't you think they would have it cover the entire building...?" 

"Well, if you've got a better method of getting up there in mind, I'd certainly like to hear it," X stated, gradually inching over to his left side. 

Zero paused for a moment at that statement; he really didn't have any other ideas. "Ugh... FINE," he moaned. "Which way are we goin'?" 

"Just follow me," X instructed him, close to reaching the area beyond the far window. "I can partially see the window up there... this shouldn't take too long." Soon enough, X had led Zero a small distance to their left, in an area of the wall were the jagged edges of the wall were not quite as sharp. Just as X had predicted, the restraints that they had felt previously while climbing had suddenly vanished; there was nothing limiting them now, and X displayed this by advancing gracefully from the jags. Zero, however, remained totally still - he was still shocked at the amazing accuracy of X's claim. 

"I TOLDJA it would work!" X shouted down to his friend. "Doesn't matter how smart those Irregies are, my chum! The Third Rebellion wasn't too long ago... this building is relatively new. There are probably flaws in their security everywhere!" 

"Yeah, I'll bet on that..." Zero muttered with a bit of irritation. "Now could we just get going, please...? All this stalling is just wasting us a lot of valuable time, you know." 

"Hey hey hey, I've been waiting for _you_!" X announced, stopping himself from advancing. "Now would you get your arse in gear already? We can't have laziness at a time like this. Dragoon's dear life is hanging in the balance, don't you know." 

Zero huffed at that one; he did indeed consider Magma a good friend of his, even during this sudden and unexpected rush of arrogance he now possessed. And he really did hate it when a good friend acted way below their basic level of intellegence and did something so pathetically stupid, they ended up getting themselves killed. And if that was the case with Magma, well... things would not turn out very kosher, he knew that for a fact. 

"Dammit all, Magma," Zero grumbled under his breath, looking up at the ever-persistent X. "If you wind up getting yourself mutilated up there, well... oy, I don't wanna have to think of the consequences. Just don't make this whole mad pursuit a complete waste of our time..." 

* * *

The Great Commander Sigma stood completely rigid in his stance, silent, clutching his large scythe-saber with both hands as if expecting the worst to occur. He had been waiting and wondering... wondering which of the two combatants would act first, who would strike the first blow, which would ultimately shatter the utter silence present in the room. It was almost frightening to see them staring at eachother like that... the large, red-tinted dragon reploid, with his fierce claws and rows of teeth, and standing still before him a golden-hued, helmet-headed reploid barely half of his opponent's size. Sigma did not know the name of the muscular dragon, but Hunter or not, the piercing glare that he gave both Vile and Sigma indicated that he indeed had intents of destroying him. Not that it worried the Maverick King that much, however... the newly christened OmegaVile, now with his latent power renewed, could easily make short work of a fool like him. 

At least, that was what he was _trying_ to believe. Even after a direct order from his Master, Vile wasn't doing a thing; he was just staring blankly at the intruder, as if analyzing his features, getting a feel for his enemy's appearance. It was awkward... maybe this confusion Vile seemed to be feeling was a direct result of the partial lack of work that was put in to his final reactivation. Maybe rushing him wasn't a smart idea... what if he went into some weird berserker mode and ended up killing Sigma...? 

Before Sigma could continue his mental pondering, however, the silence was finally broken by the emotionless voice of Vile. "This... this Hunter," he stated. "I... I do not recognize him." 

"No, bucket-head. I don't think you would," Magma snapped. "But that really doesn't matter right now, does it? All you have to know is one thing: I'm going to destroy you, and then I'm going to destroy baldy over there as well. How hard is it to process that...?" 

Sigma's anger flared after that comment. "Vile! Stop stalling THIS INSTANT!" he shouted with rage, backing away from the scene a bit. "Just destroy that nuisance! NOW!!!" 

"Nuisance..." Vile repeated, keeping the same monotone voice. "There are no other Mavericks here. This room is large... yes, we may battle here..." He turned his head in various directions, analyzing the room he had just warped into. It was quite a large room, maybe even the biggest one in the building. There was nothing really distinct about it, however; Maverick symbols lined each and every wall, with smooth, tiled flooring without any kind of carpet covering it. The ceiling was surprisingly hightened, though not too far up, with even more Maverick insignias covering it, and a large glass window on the back wall. The lobby's extis included the two hallways near the rear and front, with some elevators and stairways there too. It was unclear to Vile whether or not his master had intended this room to be used for combat... he was very unpredictable. 

However, the helmetted machine's prolonged stalling began to get on Magma's nerves, and it showed. He narrowed his eyes at his opponent, as if intending to pull his limbs apart. "Would you stop constantly distracting yourself?!" the warrior shouted, clenching his fists in anger. "What are you, an idiot? I don't have time to play around..." 

"But I don't understand," Vile stated, looking back to the reploid before him. "Why... why should I kill you? You have never met me before, and I have never harmed you, and neither have you to me. The ones I truly wish to destroy... X and Zero. They will give me a challenge... and they have harmed me in the past. I must destroy them for what they have done to me... but you, you are neither of them." He swerved his head around, his eyes now flashing in the direction of his dormant master. "Sigma... you confuse me. Why do you want me to kill a weaker warrior? It is a waste of my energy. I would like to use my full power on an enemy who poses more of a threat... it will be much more enjoyable." 

"Nonsense, Vile!" Sigma barked. "Trust me on this one, Omega! This rogue is nothing, believe me. He won't be much of a hassle... if you kill him, you'll still have _plenty_ of energy left over to destroy your more powerful adversaries. I don't understand why this simple nuisance should worry you. He should be destroyed simply because he is a fool..." 

Though the two Mavericks didn't realize it at the time, those comments were the straws that broke the camel's back for Magma. "SHUT UP!!!" he screamed at them, his brow wrinkled and his eyes seething with incomprehensible rage. They were belittling him... just like that. They barely even acknowledged his existence, hardly considered him a threat... pushing him off as nothing. And now Sigma was calling him a fool, demeaning his intellegence. No, he wouldn't take kind of abuse from ANYBODY... especially not two overly determined Mavericks who should have died and remained dead a very long time ago. 

"I am NOT a foolish underling of X and Zero! They will NOT be the ones to fight you two. This time... IT WILL BE _ME_..." And with that, the Dragoon tightened his fists with extreme fury brooding inside him. It only took a few seconds for that fury to grasp control of his entire body and practically send him into a berserker mode. Feeling the immense amount of fire within him starting to rise, he reared his head backwards for a moment, inhaling all of the power he could muster into his artificial lungs. Then, to finally complete the cycle of the attack, his head shot forward menacingly, a scream erupting from his jaws. His scream was followed by a humongous wave of fire, illuminating the entire room and and widening out to cover almost the entire back wall. Vile, oblivious to what Dragoon had been preparing to do, snapped to attention after hearing the clearly audiable yell from behind him. It was far too late, however; before he could even turn around fully, the flames fully engulfed his frame, causing him to vanish within them. 

Sigma, on the other hand, was a ways back from his helmetted comrade. Unlike Vile, he managed to leap out of the path of the flames, but barely; a few flickers caught part of his lower leg, causing him to stagger a bit and ultimately fall flat on his face. Pain seared through his large frame the moment he touched the ground, part of it coming from his damaged leg... but he was still out of harm's way, and that was all that really mattered. Well, then there was Vile... 

The Reploid King looked back to see the cocky intruder still shooting out the menacing flames, the same ones that had taken Vile... no, Vile had gotten out of the way, hadn't he? Though Sigma had clearly seen the powerful Maverick stare straight at the flames, without as much as flinching. They had engulfed him... but he was strong enough to take that kind of punishment, right...? 

"Dammit! DAMMIT..." Sigma cursed, slowly picking himself back up and leaning limply against the wall behind him. It seemed as if the renegade Hunter was beginning to run out of steam - though the flames still seemed considerably strong, they still appeared to be somewhat weaker than before... smaller, and less threatening. How long the dragon reploid could keep it up, he really didn't know. All he could really do now was hope that his 'new creation' wasn't getting himself fried back there... 

He continued to stare awestruck at the scene until the flames' sizes began to decrease by an extreme amount. Soon enough, the dragon's breath had gone beyond its set limit, and the once majestic flames were instantaneously cut off. The last few flickers continued to forcefully push against the back wall before completely fizzling out; all that could be seen now was smoke, tons upon tons of smoke, filling up almost the entire room. The fumes soon caught up with Sigma, engulfing him and blinding him for a brief while. This intruder, he realized as he attempted to bat the smoke away, was much stronger than he had anticipated; that enormous wave of fire could have very well caused him to go critical, had he not gotten out of the way in time. And, if that were the case, then would Vile be able to withstand it...? 

"Vile! VILE!!" he shouted, walking away from his position and searching for a glimpse of his mechanic war machine. It was all in vain, however; due to the smoke, Sigma could barely see two inches in front of his face, let alone find his comrade. Not being able to take the conditions anymore, the Grand Commander dropped to his knees, trying to gain some fresh air; was Vile suffocating as well...? He had to know... he had to know if his ultimate "creation" had just been reduced to tiny atoms. 

Out of Sigma's view stood the attacker, Magma Dragoon, who was also gasping for air himself. That burst of magma energy had taken a lot of power out of him, his body now feeling considerably weaker than before. But it was worth it, however; no matter how strong the Mavericks may have made Vile, he would have never been able to withstand a blast of that caliber, especially if he had never seen it coming. As he bent over and placed a partially clawed hand to his chest area, an evil grin formed on his face - the challenge that X, Zero and the others had feared so much wasn't much of a threat at all. The thought kept Magma content for quite a while... 

That was, until all of the smoke was whisked away in mere seconds. 

At first, the dragon reploid was befuddled by what had just played out before him. Barely moments before, almost all of the fumes that had erupted from the large amount of fire Magma had produced had completely dissapeared, almost like magic. As it appeared, however, the fumes had somehow been blown backwards into the hallways, leaving the entire room completely clear and visible. Both Magma and Sigma could see everything now - almost the entire back wall of the room was scorched beyond recognition, now appearing to be almost completely blackened with ash, along with some small flickers of fire still lingering. The ground itself was also extremely darkened, but not quite as badly as the wall. But besides that, the room was now completely cleared off, without one trace of smoke left. The Reploid King and the lowly Dragoon stood in confusion as to how the event had occured for a few moments - that is, until they each saw the answer standing right in front of them. 

OmegaVile, in all his armored glory, stood silent and strong, staring straight at the one who had so viciously attacked him. There were some notable differences to his features; for one, his previously golden armor (including his shoulder cannon) was now something of a darker shade, undoubtedly due to Magma's fire blast. His eyes, still visible under the T-shaped incision on his helmet, both shone extremely bright, moreso than they had ever been before. Also, for some strange reason, the psychotic Maverick now had his arms fully outstretched, palms open. At first, it was unclear as to why Vile was in this position, until it became painfully obvious to the two other reploids - it was Vile's act that caused the smoke to dissapear so rapidly. 

Magma Dragoon, beginning to rise up from the ground, stared straight at his opponent with a mixed look of anger and complete shock plastered on his face. After all of the energy, power and rage he had infused into that one single blast, there was Vile, still standing strong, barely effected by the flames that had caught him by surprise. Both he and Vile stared menacingly at eachother for what seemed like an eternity before the helmetted reploid finally broke the silence. 

"That... that was an attack on me," Vile stated in his usual monotone voice, lowering his arms and returning to his normal position. "I do not know why you wish to harm me, but it seems as if you had every intention of doing so, despite the fact that your blast was not strong enough to destroy me. Not only are you acting like a fool, but you are delaying my battle with the two reploids I truly wish to fight... and for those reasons, I will kill you." 

"YES, Vile! That's the spirit!" Sigma shouted with encouragement, slowly backing away from the scene; his scythe had been destroyed by Magma's fire blast, rendering him helpless, and thus he wanted to stay as far away from the battle as possible. "Rip him apart! Show no mercy to that nuisance..." 

Magma had some trouble admitting it to himself then, but at that moment he was completely terrified as to what was about to take place. Looking into Vile's eyes, he could tell that he had awakened something of a sleeping giant - after that attack, the enraged Maverick now had every intention of ripping him to shreds. His look was extremely unnatural... an evil power beyond that of a Maverick, maybe, he couldn't really tell. But there was one thing he knew for sure - if he just stood there and gawked helplessly at his opponent any longer, then he would let him win. He had to do something, and quickly... if he would go down, then he would go down fighting. 

"Alright then, Maverick..." he snarled, ignoring his exaustion and crouching a bit to form a battle-ready position. "If you want to kill me, then you're gonna have a helluva time tryin' to do it, believe you me!" 

With that, the red-and-grey Hunter lunged at his opponent by propelling himself with his left leg. As he approached the golden warrior, he skidded his feet on the ground every once in a while, keeping himself elevated a few inches above the ground. When he became extremely close to his blurry target, he cupped his hands and formed a mid-sized sphere of magma energy. When it became large enough, he shot it straight forward at his enemy, shouting "HADOUKEN!" and skidding himself to a halt in the process. The shot, however, was completely in vain; when Magma's eyes adjusted, he saw his fire blast skid harmlessly against the back wall, scorching it a bit more. There had been nothing else for the blast to hit - Vile had completely vanished. 

"Oh, god-DAMN..." Dragoon cursed, shifting his head in every possible direction in a frantic attempt to find out where the Maverick had sped off to. When he finally looked above him, however, it was already far too late; a swift golden blur was the only thing he say before he felt a horrible, searing pain begin to spread throughout his left side... one of the worst kinds of pain that he had ever experience. Due to the force of the attack, Magma could feel himself escaping the air he had once occupied as he was sent flying across the room, only inches above the ground. Before he could ram into the side wall, however, he managed to skid his back across the ground, using the friction to his advantage and slowing down a bit. Despite his efforts, however, he soon found himself sprawled helplessly against the floor, his head rammed into the bottom of the side wall. The pain was unbearable for him, with the force of Vile's attack mixed with the blow to his head from the wall mixed together - he could almost feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. But he was resilient, and soon managed to at least get both of his eyes partially open. He glanced shakily to his left side, down at the part of his body that Vile had attacked... 

It wasn't pretty to look at, to say the least. A small stream of reploid blood had formed a trail across the floor straight to where he lay, undoubetly from the wound; and the would itself was much worse. Though his vision was still a bit on the fuzzy side, he could clearly see a dark, deep-looking opening stretching from his lower abdomen to the upper part of his left leg. Blackish reploid blood covered it almost everywhere, and was spread partially on his chest. The wound wasn't terribly big, but he knew that size didn't really matter in this situation; it was deep, VERY deep. That kind of pain didn't come from nowhere - Vile's attack had gone somewhat far into his internal workings, and only with a single kick. If he kept this up, Magma knew, then he would be royally... 

"...screwed," he barely managed to finish, his vocals sounding somewhat groggy. His energy was far from depleted, however, and he knew that; the slowdown he was feeling was a direct result of both the attack and the his propelling... but he still couldn't see Vile anywhere, even after lifting his head from the wall's insides. That is, until he heard... 

"See? This battle was far too rapidly finished for my tastes, Master," the monotone voice spoke, obviously addressing his apparent superior. "He is defeated already, and only after a single kick. Please... let me find X and Zero. I do not care for this opponent. My patience is wearing thin..." 

"Shut... UP..." growled a still-active Magma, who was now almost completely back on his feet and leaning against the side wall for support. He clutched his wound tightly, his pain receptors in that area screaming. But to him, the pain was nothing; he pushed it aside and mentally focused on the task at hand once again. 

"Vile, I don't like the idea of you taking the coward's way out!" Sigma barked at his subordinate. "Look at him. He isn't defeated yet, but that doesn't mean he won't be short work. And X and Zero... stop worrying about them. They'll arrive soon, I can guarantee you that. I don't doubt they've found out about us by now. However, I don't think a little refresher course with this soldier would be too harmful, eh? We've got some time to kill..." 

The helmetted warrior didn't respond. As far as Magma could see, his enemy was standing a bit closer to him than before, keeping his stance completely rigid and grounded. His eyes were lighting up once again, and it was obvious that he was staring straight at the partially wounded Dragoon... the eyes as emotionless as they had always been. It was hard to tell at that point, but it almost seemed that Vile was waiting for Magma to attack him, rather than vice versa. The Dragoon welcomed that challenge, shooting a sly grin at his opponent. 

"If you won't make a move, then I sure as hell will..." Magma whispered, not really caring if anybody heard him or not. With that, a hidden surge of adrenaline exploded within the dragon-reploid once again, energy igniting within his veins. Completely ignoring the sharp pain caused from his previous wounds, the Hunter leapt high into the air, his hands balled into fists and his legs fully outstretched. When he reached a fairly close height to Vile, he stopped for a split-second in midair, his eyes plastered on his opponent. During this brief moment, his right leg suddenly shot forth, a burst of flame now surrounding it; and with that, he came hurdling down at his target at a tremendous speed, cutting viciously through the empty oxygen and nearing closer and closer to scorching Vile's small-but-deadly frame. 

Vile himself, however, seemed unphased by the attack that the intruder was attempting to use on him. The Maverick's reflexes were extremely sharp, and this seemed like more of a desperation attack than one well planned out. "Amazing. He does not think I can just move out of the way..." Vile muttered, chuckling to himself a bit at the situation. The The flames were now getting extremely close, so much so that he could feel the heat emitted from it about to engulf his helmetted cranium... 

...before he took a step to the right, that is. Before Magma's massive fire-kick attack could even flicker against his durable battle armor, the nimble Maverick had taken a surprisingly small sidestep to his right, avoiding the attack narrowly but safely. This action caused the powerful flame to harmlessly drive itself into the smooth floor, snuffing itself out and leaving a large scorchmark. The attacker, Dragoon, soon came to the shocking realization that his foot was now stuck in the ground; also noticing that Vile had dissapeared once again, he struggled to force the foot out of its burial, but to no avail. Help came in its worst form for Magma, however - he soon felt another strong blow against the back of his right leg, with a similar pain searing through it as before. The sudden attack prompted Magma's leg to slip backwards out of its ditch, while at the same time causing him to fall flat on his face, his body now laying front-first on the floor. 

The pain that had spread throughout his body before had now become considerably worse; not only was he wounded on his torso, but now his leg had taken a bad hit, which would cause him a great deal of trouble if he wanted to get back on his feet. Without wasting any time, Magma forcefully pressed his arms against the floor in a desperate attempt to get back on his feet. He had only gotten halfway up before his right leg's pain receptors began to scream within him, making his entire body writhe and convulse. But when he was able to open his eyes, however, the pain went into hibernation for a brief while when he found himself staring straight into the face of Vile. The Maverick's fist was clenched... he was about to attack again. 

"No..." Magma muttered weakly; despite his pain, he was NOT going to let this bastard strike him again. Before Vile's golden fist could form an eternal mark on Dragoon's broad snout, the worn-in Hunter lurched his head downward just in the nick of time, letting the five-finger unification whiz harmlessly through unoccupied space. Taking absolutely no chances, the quick warrior saw his opprotunity and formed a fist of his own, putting as much energy into it as possible before shoving it into Vile's vulnerable helmet. He followed through with the blow, pushing his enemy as far away from him as possible, not letting a fraction of his attack shy away from its target. 

"Yeah... hope you enjoyed that one, you freak..." the Dragoon vengefully cursed, now lowering his fist and watching his opponent with half-opened eyes. The effect the attack had on Vile wasn't quite as destructive as Dragoon would have wanted, sadly; the Maverick had only stumbled back a few inches, not even a foot, and hadn't even fallen down or anything. The only sign of pain that he showed was when he rubbed against his 'chin' a bit, nursing where the minuscule damage had been dealt. To Magma's horror, he realized that the attack hadn't even phased him, and that theory rang true when he noticed Vile approaching him once again, looking even stronger than before rather than weaker. 

"This... this is becoming ridiculous, my friend..." said Vile, his voice now increasing in volume much more than before. "Why must you struggle on with this? Your foolishness upsets me... I am vastly superior in strength when compared to you. However, I still wish not to see you suffer any more than you need to. Therefore, the time has now come for me to send you to your ultimate death sentence..." 

"No...!" Magma could barely mutter, still kneeling helplessly on the ground, trying desperately to think of something to save himself. Only one thought passed his mind. His adrenaline now pumping again, the reckless Dragoon shot his fist forward once again, only to miss by an extremely small margin. But he wouldn't give up; he made another punch at his opponent, only to miss again. And again. And again. And again... 

Magma knew he couldn't keep this up - his energy had already been depleted to its breaking point before he began his fury of punches. Vile was just too fast... dodging and dodging and dodging, until finally he faded into a blur, and eventually nothingness. Before Magma could even ponder as to where he had gone, he reappeared again, shooting his hand forward and forming a tight grasp on the intruder's supple neck. 

"Silly fool..." the psychotic Maverick whispered, his voice now losing its monotone qualities and becoming dark and raspy. He lifted his prey off of his feet, keeping him somewhat levitated off of the ground and above Vile's own head. As his frighteningly strong grip began to tighten even more on Magma's esoghagus, the helpless Hunter could be heard choking and struggling even more, his eyes now closed tightly in wretched pain. Vile loved every minute of it. 

"You pathetic, foolish waste of life. Why you so willingly put yourself into this situation amazes me... your kind should have been put to their deaths years ago. Arragant scrap - that's probably how you've lived most of your life, and thus I'll make sure that you'll die the exact same way." His grip was now extremely tight, completely cutting off Magma's air supply; and it was shown both in the violent convulsions Vile's hand was making, and the horrible pain Magma appeared to be in. Deciding to make things quick, Vile could be heard charging his shoulder mounted plasma cannon, with full intentions of blowing his opponent's head off with its power. 

"Goodnight, Hunter..." were the last words Magma would hear Vile say. Ever so slowly, he could feel life slipping away from him, his body's mechanical workings beginning to malfunction and shut themselves down. It was a horrible way to die... stripped of all your pride and self-confidence, forced to face the undeniable truth. He wasn't strong enough... all the training he had endured, all the power he believed to possess. Was all of it in vain...? An answer to that question would never truly come, he knew... everything was over now. 

That is, until a high-pitched yelping sound exploded from the rooftops. 

"HI-HOOOOOOOOO, SILVER!" the voice optimistically shouted, descending from a very high point, close to the ceiling. That voice, that savior voice, was just the thing needed to keep Magma from becoming a lifeless hunk of scrap metal; soon enough, the Dragoon could faintly feel his attempted killer's grip slacken... sweet, sweet air gradually reentered his soul, his vital fluids kicking back in gear again. Before he could see anymore, Vile had already dropped him to the floor, possibly believing him to be dead. Magma cringed a bit when the floor met his body, but that was easily forgivable; it wasn't too long before the injured Dragoon's pain began to fade away as he slipped into a peaceful stasis... 

* * *

"What the...? What _is_ that?!" exclaimed a startled Sigma, who had been busy surveying Vile and Magma's little battle before he heard the shout come from above. Anything that interrupted his enjoyment during a moment like this was never welcomed, especially due to the fact that Vile had actually let go of his prey out of shock. What was going on...? 

It didn't take long for the bald tyrant to see for himself. Two figures, one blue and one crimson-red, had smashed right through the now shattered window somewhat close to the ceiling, and were now hurtling at a rapid speed towards both Vile and Sigma. The crimson reploid, unsheathing what appeared to be a beam saber, managed to stick the saber's blade into the front wall, stopping himself from crashing all the way down. The blue reploid, however, wasn't quite as lucky as his comrade; having nothing to really slow his fall, he plummeted to the ground below, screeching at the top of his lungs the whole way down. Upon landing, the entire ground shook a bit - he'd landed flat on his belly, his face embedded in the floor's once smooth appearance. Once getting a better look at them, Sigma recognized the two immediately... 

"X and Zero... DAMMIT!" the Maverick King cursed loudly, clutching a fist in anger. "My operation was going perfectly, and per usual, THESE two show up! And people wonder why I'm crazy..." 

"SIGMA! MAH MAIN MAN!" came another familiar shout from above; Zero, the reploid with the more distinguishable features of the two, was now skillfully sliding down the wall, a wily smirk on his face. "What a beeee-yootiful coincidence! We were just in the neighborhood when we heard about some bald-headed megalomaniac tampering with the minds of reploids, but I'd never guess - in _fifty gajillion years_ - that it would be YOU! Nice to see ya doin' your thing again, man... oh, and sorry for the 'graceful' entrance of my friend here." 

"You SHUT UP..." muttered a not-too-humbled X, who had managed to pull his head out of the hole in the ground and return to his normal stance, wiping off numerous crumbs and dust particles as he did so. "I just lost control of my balance up there, that's all. Also considering the fact that I didn't realize the window led into complete emptiness..." 

"You morons! I don't have time for this meaningless squabble!" Sigma shouted, now motioning towards his new robotic slave. "OmegaVile! Change of plans... you know these two Hunters here, right? They're the formidable ones, the ones you LOATHE so much! Therefore, KILL THEM! GUT THEM! RIP OUT THEIR INNER CIRCUITRY AND PLAY DANDY LITTLE JUMP-ROPE GAMES WITH THEM! THAT'S ALL I ASK OF YOU!!!" 

"Oh, don't _tell_ me..." muttered a now-grounded Zero, who glanced across the room at the familiar figure. It was Vile, alright... but he had been modified since his short period with them as Sunshine. His arm cannon was there, his Maverick insignia... everything. And also, right upon seeing the two, his eyes had begun to glow an extremely frightening shade of red. He was off-kilter, even for someone as crazy as Vile... 

"Oh JEEBUS NO...!" X exclaimed, his face distorted in shock at the sight. As many Hunters knew, X was an extremely emotionally sensitive guy, and could be traumatized pretty easily if the experience was serious enough. It was Vile's eyes that set him off; cold, dark, vengeful, and extremely similar to how they had been back in the days of the third Maverick Uprising. He hated it, and if he had the chance, he would just get the hell out of... 

"X, don't you even CONSIDER it," Zero warned, perfectly aware of what his friend was thinking at the moment. He kept his gaze on the stocky Vile, now seeming a bit on the more serious side. "I know Magma Dragoon was up here... what the hell happened to him?" he asked. 

"Who? That dragon fool...?" Sigma mocked, chuckling a bit to himself. "My new servant made short work of him. And believe me, it won't be much longer before you two join him..." 

"So... we made it too late?" asked a still frightened X, who was now shivering a bit. 

"He is not dead," stated the shrill, monotone voice of Vile; it was one both X and Zero had now begun to loathe. It was much different than the soothing, gentle tone 'Sunshine' had used... Vile had obviously changed. "I do not care for his life, so I will not waste my time destroying it. The two of you, however..." His ignited even brighter than before, a new wave of emotion erupting within Vile's systems. The two lone Maverick Hunters, though seemingly ready for anything, had no idea what they were getting into... 

* * *

Glacier felt it. That horrific, extremely uneasy feeling one gets when they believe something has gone terribly wrong... that his friends or family were in some kind of grave danger. Sitting there in the hot sand, he erupted from his stasis, his eyes wide open. Something had happened... what had happened? 

"Yo Glaish!" exclaimed the cheery Icarus, who was sitting beside his friend. "I thought you were asleep. Why with the sudden awakening...?" 

"I've gotta get the hell out of this place..." he muttered, suddenly leaping to his feet. "Something isn't right..." 

"'Something'...? Glaish, what in the name of Bhudda are you talking about...?" 

"I don't really know..." Glacier muttered again. "Something in the fortress... someone's hurt, or someone else is in danger... there's too much! I've gotta get going... keep the Unit organized while I'm gone, buddy!" 

"But-" his friend sputtered, but he may as well have talked to his toes. The dragon reploid went speeding down the sandy field of Hell at a tremendous speed. Despite Icarus's shock, he knew that there was nothing he could do to stop him, no matter how hard he could try. 

* * *

Author's Note: Well, this chapter was an attempt at a fightin' scene, which I don't do that much of. So, it would really help me out if you could tell me what ya think of it, just so I can get better. Thanks, and get ready for the finale soon. :)

--Da Spyda 


	26. Evil's Exodus

**Chapter 26: Evil's Exodus**

* * *

Dynamo knew that his eyes must have been playing evil little games with his brain, because what he was seeing just did NOT make much sense at all. But then again, at this point, he really didn't know what to make of what was happening around him; everything had occured so suddenly, it was all like a swirling ball of colors to him. 

As far as he could remember, he had been strolling down the hallways of the third floor, about to approach his safe-house area (or his dorm, whatever). It wasn't like he was doing anything wrong at the time, or anything like that; oh sure, maybe he had carelessly thrown a crushed Pepsi can behind him, littering the hallway and blatantly defying one of the fortress's few rules. But something that minor couldn't have possibly served as an impetus to what happened next - a hoard of Mavericks, terrified and seemingly crazed, had come rushing through the hallway, knocking the grey-haired mercenary to the floor and treating him with some nasty scrapes and dents. Then he heard Hunters had invaded the building... the stampede of reploids had actually been an extremely unorganized evacuation. Dynamo thought that their inability to defend themselves was just utterly saddening, but he soon forgot to dwell on that thought after he witnessed something even more awkward as he stared into the lobby. 

_The plastic soldier..._ he mentally noted, surprised to see the reploid Sigma had been so enthusiastic about actually proving to be somewhat effective. In not much time at all, Dynamo had watched in horror as the mechanical warrior made short work of some dragon-like Hunter, one that Dynamo found awkwardly familiar. Though Magma's attacks seemed to pretty strong in the mercenary's eyes, Vile was almost completely undamaged by them, and managed to kill... or knock out, he couldn't tell... that dragon. And now, to complete the wonderful package of fun, X and Zero dropped on by; the first time Dynamo had really seen the two in person. A battle here was inevitable... and all he could do was watch behind part of the wall, completely unnoticed... 

_Oh, and I'm supposed to care about all of this WHY...?_ Dynamo snapped mentally to himself, his logic gradually trickling back in. _Please. X, Zero, Vile, Sigma... since when have I given a flyin' fatoot about those morons anyway?! If they kill eachother, it'll just be another great relief for me and the REST of this cruddy world..._

Before Dynamo could really gather his thoughts completely, however, a painfully loud alarm began to sound. Moments later, the lights changed an unusual shade of red, and all of the windows along the hallways and rooms closed with a loud _SMASH!_, a protective metal sheet now covering each of them. Dynamo was left in a complete state of shock, even moreso than before; what was this, some kind of emergency escape Sigma had planned? Was the Bald Honcho summoning the other soldiers to assist him and Vile in the battle? Was he attempting to trap the two elite Hunters in some kind of bizarre trump card...? 

"Well!" proclaimed who Dynamo precieved to be Sigma, judging by the voice. "It seemes that Gelves has been able to set up an emergency security system after all... how convinient." 

"Wha... what're you TALKING about?" yelled one of the Hunters, sort of a whiny high-toned voice; possibly X's. "What emergency security system...?" 

"Oh, well, you'll probably see its effects soon enough," Sigma said smugly, a wry grin spreading across his metallic face. "I personally don't know what it'll do at this point in time, since I've never actually seen it for myself. But if it's anything like what it used to be in the previous fortresses, then you two are in quite a bit of trouble. Teleportation would be impossible, most exits completely sealed off, walls fortified to prevent any kind of internal breakout... things will look grim for you, indeed." 

Dynamo's visored eyes doubled in width at that statement. The building was _sealed in_ now? What the hell...? The Mavericks never had focused on some emergency system like this since he had been here... maybe they had decided to keep it a secret, or something? Even Sigma seemed surprised at it, and if it was _that_ well kept, then... 

"Oh, isn't that just 'effin great to hear," Dynamo heard Zero curse. "But you're being kind of shortsighted, Baldo. If we won't be able to get out of here, neither will you..." 

"Oh, I wouldn't place any bets on that theory, Hunter," Sigma hissed with scorn. "I have my methods... ones that the two of you would never even consider. But it's not like I'll be put into any kind of dangerous situation, anyway... that'll be kind of hard if the two of you are dead!" He motioned towards the short orange figure near the opposite side of the room. "Vile! Enough stalling, my puppet. It is time for you to recieve vengeance on the ones that so mercilessly killed you! Stripped you of that honor you seemed to like so much. Brought you to the abyss... yadda yadda yadda. Just KILL THEM!" 

Vile's eyes glowed a dark shade of red, matching the rest of the lights in the room; it wasn't a pleasant thing for Dynamo to watch, as this apparent Maverick was the same one that not only he had underestimated, but one he had actually brought back to the fortress. It certainly seemed as if that golden reploid had changed quite a bit since before... though Dynamo had never actually encountered Vile before, he had heard of the things he had done in the past, and his various defeats by the hands of X and Zero. Back then, the Hunter duo had never really seemed to be afraid of him (well, maybe X, but not so much as to prevent a fight). But now... X just seemed horrified, watching the golden reploid approach him, almost as if he couldn't bring himself to fight the adversary. Zero, while not quite as shaken as his counterpart, didn't look much better. And Vile himself... Dynamo could sense something was REALLY wrong with him, something he couldn't bring himself to find out... 

Desperately, he turned away from the action for a brief moment, raising his wrist-com thingy to his eye level. Trying his damnedest, he pressed against the 'teleport' button several times, just to see if Sigma's prophecy actually could bear fruit. Sadly, it seemed that it could; no matter how hard Dynamo tried, the same stupid error message continued to pop up, preventing any kind of immediate escape. In a word, Dynamo was, at the moment, 'screwed'. 

_Goddammit... well, what am I supposed to do?!_ Dynamo mentally panicked. _We've got some kind of 'fight to the death' thing goin' on here, involving some crazed Maverick... thing. But screw that. That damned emergency system the Mavericks set up seems to have sealed off all the exits, blocked all teleportation devices, and prevented all other means of escape. Friggin' wonderful... so what am I supposed to do?!. There's only one thing on my mind right now, but..._

But, then again, there seemed to be no other options. Taking a deep breath, he turned away from the lobby scene and sprinted back down the hallway, not really caring how loud he was; the alarms seemed to drown out the clunking of his metallic boots, anyway. He would return to his dormitory, given that he could actually get in there, get his things, and bust the hell out of that stinkhole of a fortress. Oh, sure, people like Mercuito might label what he was doing as cowardice, of a dishonorable act. But screw honor; it was never something Dynamo was a big fan of, anyway. If he needed to cause some trouble escaping from a hellish nightmare like this in order to preserve his own life, then so be it... if anything, it seemed like an intellegent thing to do rather than a cowardly one. 

One thing was for sure, though... he was leaving. Forever. 

* * *

Darrick was beyond fatigued when he finally managed to return to the front door of the second floor security deck, which seemed much further out of the way than the last time he had gone searching for it. After the turmoil up on the third floor, Sigma had given him a direct order to meet up with his comrades downstairs, despite what he had asked of him earlier. Unfortunately, due to some very nasty - and unexpected - complications, all means of transportation to any floor below the third were completely destroyed. Thus, a lot of agility and energy had been required for him to make it all the way back down in one piece, and THEN deal with finding the others on time. The alarm had just made things ten times worse, too. 

Bending on one knee and placing an open palm on the door facing him, he paused for a brief moment to get some energy back in his systems before he wound up in some unhealthy kind of stasis. Part of this energy he recieved from inhaling and exhaling, something reploids like himself never really did that often unless entirely necessary; and Darrick, knowing when he was in a bit of trouble, was taking in oxygen like a pumped weightlifter. While doing so, he could be heard cursing between breaths. 

"Damn... sunnuva... friggin'... 'effin... ELEVATORS..." the disgruntled Maverick muttered to himself, still gasping desperately for some air. This didn't continue for very long, unfortunately; before he could take in any more, he began to feel the door supporting his hand begin to curve forward, thus causing his entire body to lose its balance. Soon enough, before the door could even open in its entirety, Darrick had completely lost his position and feel face-first into the tiled floor, the force of the blow sending numerous shots of searing pain throughout his face. For a few moments, the stinging was so strong that the lone Maverick was unable to lift up his head; that is, until he heard a familiar voice hovering above him. 

"Ohh... erm, is that you, Darrick?" the voice said gently, a voice that Darrick recognized almost immediately. He looked up to see a flustered-looking Agile, staring down at his subordinate with a bit of concern on his face. "Oh, that IS you. My apologies for that little spill you had... didn't realize you were using the door for support or anything. Need a lift...?" He offered an outstretched hand. 

"Yeah, appreciated..." he muttered with a hint of acid, grasping vigorously onto Agile's support arm and lifting himself back onto his feet. He looked back to his comrade as he dusted himself off, who was still looking right back at him. 

"So, I figured you got the order from Sigma?" Agile asked him, his eyebrows lifted. 

"Yee-ah," Darrick replied. "I'm still kind of confused as to what's goin' down around here, though. One moment those soldiers are trampling all over me, the next that frickin' alarm starts going off and I'm running for my life. What gives...?" 

"Oh, _that_..." Agile emphasized, partially chuckling to himself. "Y'know, it's the damndest thing. X and Zero managed to find Sigma and Vile's location, you see..." 

"Oh, well isn't THAT just great," Darrick exclaimed in annoyance. "Listen, would you mind just letting me in, please? I'm beginning to think that this hallway is kind of unsafe, and that alarm won't stop RINGING IN MY EARS, man..." 

"Oh, my mistake," Agile stated. "Follow me." The head of the X-Hunters led the Maverick colonel into the small, dimly-lit room, having Darrick close the door firmly behind them. Inside, the eagle Maverick Gelves sat intently in front of the many security monitors, keeping tabs on everything that was occuring outside. Sitting beside him were two prominent Maverick technical staffers, Serges and M-24, both who were keeping watch of the monitors Gelves wasn't focusing on. The three of them turned to greet their fellow elites as they entered the room. 

"Ah, Darrick. Nice to see you alive and well..." welcomed M-24, who looked almost as if he hadn't seen the light of day in years. "Things are starting to get kind of rough out there, what with the Hunter invasion and all. Tell me, have you seen any sign of Violen anywhere...?" 

Darrick shook his head a bit, shrugging his shoulders as well. "Nah, I haven't seen him since Sigma ordered us to station ourselves on our designated floors. He had to take an entirely different path than me, and he seemed kind of flustered in what he was doing. That was the last time I saw him..." 

"Gah, figures!" cursed Serges, who had taken a seat on a small table on the right side of the room. "Gelves claims that he saw that oaf get himself captured by the Hunters. Well, good riddance, I say! He was just slowing us down, anyway..." 

"That's a bit of a shortsighted claim, Serges," Agile barked. "What if they bring him back to their headquarters for interrogation, hmm? Lord knows what kind of secrets he could blab out about our operation!" 

"Oh, PLEASE!" Serges mocked. "I believe that you're overestimating the power of Violen's brain, my friend. How much do you think he'll be able to remember, anyways? I doubt it'll be long before they just get rid of him, out of frustration!" 

"You two, would you please SHUT UP for a moment?!" blurted out Gelves, who was still watching the monitors frantically and toying with the controls at the same time. "We're in a state of emergency here, and bickering about stupid crap isn't exactly helping us out right now! In case you didn't realize it, I'm not used to these new emergency devices..." 

"Yeah, I've got some questions about that alarm thing," Darrick butted in. "First off, I distinctly remember you saying before that this building didn't have any emergency alarm systems yet. So then what exactly is happening out there?" 

Gelves huffed a bit. "Well, technically, we _don't_ have an emergency system... well, not an automatic one, at least. All of these commands that've been issued out have been done manually, by me. What I've done is sealed off all of the windows, disabled teleportation, and encased some parts of the outside wall, along with most doors leading to the outside. That's all I can really do for you guys right now. That alarm was generally a summon for the four of you to come back down here, but Sigma told all of you that in advance, I'm guessing." He took a bit of a nervous breath. "But now's not the time to dilly-dally around. As of now, the soldiers in this building are headed to the first floor so that they can escape in a large shuttle designed just for that purpose. The four of you have some private pods as well on this very floor, and... wh-what the...?" 

The yellowish eagle stopped mid-sentence, staring worriedly at a single monitor placed right in front of his face. The other Mavericks in the room exchanged confused glances. "Hey, Gelves..." addressed Agile, "What's the problem? You look like you're having a stroke or something." 

"What? Oh, nothing, nothing..." Gelves muttered softly, still fixated on the screen. "Just something a bit, well... odd." He then shook his head, returning to his senses. "But forget about that for now. The only thing the four of you should be concerned about now is getting to those escape pods and getting the hell out of here. I can't do anything more for you right now." 

"Whoa, whoa, waitasecond..." interrupted M-24, a bit of skepticism on his face. "So what you're generally telling us is that you want us to abandon this fortress? _Completely?_ I mean, what about Sigma and Vile? If this entire place ends up crashing to the ground, are we just gonna let the both of them be destroyed with the fortress? Sigma'll have are asses if he survives..." 

"He and Vile have got their own business to attend to right now," Gelves assured him, "and Sigma's even told me that he doesn't plan on his battle with the Hunters to last very long, now that Vile's all beefed out and such. I'm a bit skeptical on if he's really trustworthy on that claim, but hell, at a time like this, we've got nobody else to trust, do we? Also, if Sigma does die, you'll all need to take his place as Maverick leaders, so we can't have you dead, can we?" He fiddled with a few dials on the control panel before turning back to face the other four. "Now listen up. I want the four of you to take a left from here and continue down the hallway until you find a somewhat large sealed door with a red marker in the middle of it. To get in you need to say the access code..." 

"...which would be?" asked an impatient Darrick. 

Gelves shot daggers at him. "I was just going to GET to that, if you'd just let me speak," he huffed offensively. "Anyways, the access code is 'MALLOMARS'..." 

"'Mallowmars'?" Agile butted in, a bit confused at the irregular passcode. "Who the hell came up with that one...?" 

"Let's just say it was one of Sigma's 'off-days'," Gelves stated. "But forget about that. The four of you should head down there, NOW. I'll stay here and keep everything monitored for the time being, and if things start to get really dangerous, then I'll use my own pod. Remember the passcode, and you'll be fine. Good luck to the four of you..." 

"Yes, and you too, Birdo," Serges teased; of all the nicknames Gelves could've been called, that was the one he loathed the most. "C'mon guys, let's get the hell out of this dump. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't be happier..." 

And with that, the four prominent Mavericks led themselves out of the dark security room, leaving the dedicated Gelves to his work. After they had finally left the room, the head of security focused back on that monitor he had been staring at before; from what he could see, two Mavericks, a tall, lanky one and a short, pudgy one, were running at full speed through the hallways of the first floor. Apparently, they were running ahead of a large grouping of other Mavericks, who were trailing pretty far behind. They seemed to be heading for the shuttle-styled transporter that would send them safely out of the building. But did they know to wait for the others...? 

_Hey, wait... it's those two guards!_ Gelves thought frantically. _Damn, I hope they don't screw anything up for us... they shouldn't be THAT far ahead of the other group..._

* * *

Eyes are an extremely important physical feature, despite what many people may tell you. The essence in one's eyes can generally tell somebody the story of their life in a nanosecond, or paint a picture of long times past with dazzling imagery and various features. Other times, eyes can portray the purest form of an individual's current emotion, moreso than words ever could; just by glancing briefly into another's eyes will allow you to view almost every emotion one is feeling at the time, whether it be anger, sorrow, jubilance, worry, or even boredom. It could even be said that eyes serve as a window to one's soul... 

...and, at the time, X's eyes were serving that exact purpose. Hard to say if the situation could've been more tense at this time; X was staring straight at his self-proclaimed nemesis, Vile, the Maverick that formerly appeared to have redeemed himself until he was brainwahsed by Sigma once again. The orange-yellow armored reploid stood in complete dormancy, as he seemed to be peering straight into the Blue Bomber's greenish eyes, feeding off of every kind of emotion they happened to emit. X's optics displayed a mix of shock, pain, confusion, and even a hint of rage... and the one Vile loved the most, fear. Relentless fear. It was obvious that he was not fond of the situation at all, and Vile intended to take full advantage of that. 

The tension in the room was soon becoming so unbearable for X that he almost felt like leaping from his stance and blasting the fearsome specter-like Maverick with everything he had; but that was impossible, he knew, as he lacked the actual guts to even step forward, let alone attack. In desperation, he glanced to his partner, Zero, who appeared to be a bit calmer than X at the moment; the Crimson Wonder was glaring menacingly at Sigma, who was still chuckling in amusement at all the ruckus of alarms and emergency procedures. Unlike X, it seemed that Zero was really intending on taking action rather than squatting in a pool of his own fear and doubt. X's theory proved true as his friend bodly unsheathed his Z-Saber, steadying the pulsating blade protectively in front of him. 

"X, I'm going to keep tabs on Sigma for a while," he informed his friend. "For the time being, I want you to take care of Vile." 

"WhatwhatWHAT?!" X shouted frantically at his friend, his eyes widening beyond the breaking point. "Oh, no. NO FRACKIN' WAY, JIMBO. You expect me to fight that helmetted psycho by _myself_?! Why can't the BOTH of us battle him...?" 

"X, would you calm down, please?!" Zero replied angrily, his eyes still fixated on his opponent. "Someone's gotta make sure Sigma doesn't pull any tricks on us from behind the scenes. Plus, I think I could get some vital information out of him..." 

"But, ZERO...!!!" X plead, breathing heavily. But it was far too late now; the energetic Hunter had already charged at the battle-ready Sigma, his lightsaber slashing at him in every direction possible. Sigma, without his trusted scythe, seemed to be at something of a loss during the battle - however, he certainly wasn't going down without a fight, and managed to nimbly dodge each and every one of Zero's attacks. X scowled at his so-called 'friend'... it seemed almost as if he was taking the easy way out of the situation, and leaving X with all of the tough crap. Typical. 

"Stupid, good fer nuthin', sack of..." X muttered inaudibly before turning back to his opponent. He would never be able to finish his mumblings, however; right when he turned back, the only thing he could see was this large sphere of white... err, stuff... approaching his face at an incredible speed. Using nothing but his quick reflexes, the nimble Hunter lowered his head almost to the ground, ducking at just the right moment. The sphere, while nipping at his helmetted cranium just a little bit, sailed above him harmlessly and collided with the back wall. To X's surprise, however, the attack didn't make a very loud explosion or destroy a very large portion of the wall; rather, a very faint crackling sound occured, which only continued for a few seconds afterwards, followed by a small bit of smoke. After the attack had subsided, X slowly lifted himself from his ducking stance and looked back to inspect the damage done; as far as he could see, jolts of electricity were streaming in and out of the walls, some small wires poking through the now blackened structures. So... what had been shot at X was actually... 

"Electricity," X muttered faintly, his mind and body still in a state of shock. "I... didn't know he could do that." 

"Well, I can do a lot of things," Vile stated in his haunting, indifferent tone of voice. He was now somewhat closer to the azure Hunter, his shoulder cannon now aiming directly at him, with a bit of smoke rising from its barrel. "But that is besides the point. X, you seem to have a flaw which forces you to care more about your friends than yourself; a flaw that easily could have killed you right then and there. You need to start paying attention more..." 

"Well, thank YOU, buddy," X snapped sarcastically, raising his own buster for protection. "I don't exactly consider you a 'battle guru'. I thought you to be a helluva lot nicer when you were Sunshine, you know... whatever happened to _that_ bit?" 

For some reason, hearing the word 'Sunshine' struck an unnatural cord within Vile's circuits; his blood-red eyes ignited upon its utterance, displaying a fit of anger and defiance. Before X could say another word, the sadistic Maverick began to fire off a string of smaller plasma blasts, directed straight at his opponent. X, still feeding off of his quick reflexes, made a graceful dash to his right and fired off a few shots of his own, all in mid-charge. Vile, while still blasting off a few more shots, managed to fend off the greenish beams by batting them away with an open palm, almost effotlessly; the shots were sent sailing upwards into the ceiling structure, causing some considerable damage to the rafters. 

"You will refrain from addressing me with that name," the Maverick rasped, halting his shots and turning to face a partially unscathed X. "My past is embarrassing, every possible aspect of it. I wish to forget it all." 

X rubbed his cheek a little bit, nursing a minor scratch from a shot that had just nipped him. "Easier said than done," X snapped, noticing that the fear he had just felt from Vile's presence was beginning to change into utter annoyance. "All I really know is, to be honest, I don't want to kill you. As far as I'm really concerned, you don't want to be like this... some kind of brainless monster. I remember, back when you were with Sigma during the first Maverick uprising, you were still somewhat admirable, even after Cainhad to deactivate you." He huffed a little bit, a wry smile forming on his face. "But now, you've let Sigma turn you into some souless, brainless freak who would do whatever his master instructs him to do. I mean, I don't think the real Vile would honestly stand for something like that..." 

"Don't you DARE refer to me or my master in those terms," Vile almost shouted, the rage rising in his voice. "This is the purest from I could possibly be in, you fool. In my former life, I was a failure. Now, I will succeed in the duty I was never capable of accomplishing... killing you, Zero, and wreaking havoc over the rest of the world. Sigma and I will eradicate all those who are hinderances to this planet. You and Zero are only the first." 

X raised his eyebrows in a bit of surprise - Vile really, really seemed to be getting angry at his words, and if he said anything more he might REALLY set him off. "Alright then, Vile," X said, almost sounding dissapointed with his opponent. "But just remember. You keep following Sigma, and it won't really matter how many battles you will have won. You, yourself, will have lost." 

"Sh... shut up! Fool!" Vile now shouted, the emotion in his voice now beginning to seep back in. "This... this is only the _beginning_ of my ultimate victory. You... you are just a pawn!" This time, he didn't even let X form a rebuttal to that remark; instead, he immediately lunged at his opponent with blinding speed, abandoning his earlier tactics of strategy and mental overpowering. This was going way too far - X (or any other Hunter for that matter) would not defeat him in a battle of emotional strength, under any circumstances. He would die; all Vile cared about now was seeing X dead as soon as possible. 

* * *

Meanwhile, Zero was beginning to have his hands full on the other side of the room. Even though Sigma was without any kind of defensive weapon to help him out in battle, it seemed almost as if he didn't even need it; as much as the Crimson Hunter tried, he couldn't manage to get a decent hit on his opponent, who dodged every move with as much effort as possible. How much longer could he keep his saber flinging in every which way like this...? 

"This is beginning to bore me, Hunter!" Sigma mocked him, ducking under a swift horizontal saber slash directed at his vulnerable head. "You are losing this game. Thus, I say that I begin to make things more interesting, mmm?" 

"Just SHUT - OOF!" Zero tried to exclaim before a sharp, unexpected pain began to pierce through his chest. Sigma, seeing his chance to catch his opponent momentarily off-guard, had used his time bending down to drive his fist into Zero's chest, right where his stomach would be. The sudden blow sent Zero to his knees, grimacing and baring his teeth. 

"Aughh... god... DAMN..." he cursed, attempting to get some air into his systems. The blow was harder than he had expected, mostly due to the fact that it had seemingly come out of nowhere. Zero wouldn't continue tending to his pain much longer however; immediately upon looking up, he could see the sadistically joyful face of Sigma smiling at him, his right arm now reared back and prepared to deliver a sucker-punch to the face. This time around, however, Zero was ready for it - his saber still clutched in his right hand, he waited for Sigma's fist to come barely an inch away from his face before slicing a wide arc straight through the attacking force. A scream of pain escaped the Maverick King as a clean half of his right arm fell lifelessly to the ground, leaving a reploid blood-soaked arm stump with torn wires sticking out of it. Surprised at this sudden attack, he knelt down to the floor, clutching the remains of his severed limb. 

"You... you CUT OFF MY ARM!" shouted the reploid tyrant, a great deal of blood dripping all over the once-clean floor. "You cut the bloody thing RIGHT OFF! I mean, Jesus Christ _Superstar_..." 

"Wow. Aren't _you_ the one with observations," Zero commented sarcastically, lifting himself up from the ground while still clutching his stomach area a bit. Reflexively, he reared back his saber with one hand, ready to deliver the last, fatal blow. "Now, El Sigmatica, I think now's the right time to finish things up... wouldn't you agree?" 

"No-NO!!!" Sigma shouted, with a mixed look of intense pain and utter fear. "Please, don't kill me! Not now! I never married, and my _dog_ is _dead_..." The expression on his face now seemed to signify feigned depression, heartbreak, and misery, relating to some past life. 

This really did nothing but confuse Zero; Sigma's choice of words, he quickly realized, weren't exactly fitting of his character. But his expressions of blatantly fake emotion just made things so horribly pathetic that Zero was forced to pity the broken, once-proud King of Mavericks. Thus, he somewhat reluctantly lowered his saber and deactivated it, returning the blade to its sheath. He'd let him live for now, he figured - he certainly wanted to squeak out more information on Vile and the rest of the Mavericks, and having their supreme ruler dead wouldn't exactly help out at this point. 

"All-righ-tee, Sigma," Zero muttered nonchalantly, now raising his buster in place of his sword; at this point, he really could find more use of a good long-range weapon. "Let's straighten things out right about now. I'm not going to kill you, as long as you comply with me for a little while. I'm gonna ask you some simple questions, and you're gonna answer them, FULLY, whether you like it or not. If you don't answer, or try to escape, I _guarantee_ you that a ball of liquid-hot plasma will be the last thing you ever see, hear, feel, smell... well, you get the idea. Understood?" 

Sigma scowled at the Hunter, still woefully clutching his severed right arm. Why was it, almost every time he fought these two, that _this_ was the situation he was faced with? This ran through the disturbed leader's rage-filled mind as he continued to glare at his adversary with an extreme loathing. "Y... yes... fine," he muttered faintly, a bit of acid in his voice. This wasn't going to be fun. "Alright, then," Zero began, "let's get right to the point, shall we? First off, I want to know exactly what the hell is going on with this whole Vile fiasco, from beginning to end. Why, pray tell, did that twerp come practically to our doorstep asking for some kind of retribution, or something? What exactly happened to him, or what did you do to him NOW...?" 

"Vile..." Sigma muttered, glancing beyond Zero for a moment to get a good look at his now loyal servant. "Yes, Vile. We designed him perfectly, and you foolish Hunters couldn't even see past that..." 

A look of confusion spread across Zero's face. "Wha... 'perfectly'? What're you _talking_ about? When we found that guy meandering the streets, he was donating money and helping out the elderly. And they were all human, too! How does 'perfect' fit in with..." 

"Silence, you short-sighted fool!" Sigma blurted out, his teeth beginning to form some sort of twisted smile. "You didn't understand our goals, did you?! When we found Vile and maximized his power output, we chose to send him out into the town and force everyone into thinking that he was converted, that he was attempting to create a new, peaceful life for himself. Finally, when we had him infiltrate the Hunter base, he managed to find some extremely useful information involving your entire organization. Thus, when I gave him the green light, he himself escaped your pathetic excuse for a building and returned here to give a fully-developed report." He snickered evily. "And that, my human-praising friend, was our plan. I must say, it worked perfectly... Vile's alias pulled the wool over all of your eyes, no matter how much skepticism you had with his peaceful demeanor. You were all fools, the whole lot of you!..." 

At that point, Zero was completely frozen over with shock. His eyes widened at this revelation; Sigma's words, though harsh, could very well have been true. I mean, this had been what he and X had suspected since Vile first arrived, right? The whole thing... was just some ploy. 'Sunshine', the apparent last shred of goodness and decency Vile had ever possessed, had never actually existed. Vile had been under Sigma's control the entire time, being constantly monitored and instructed by him, the whole time... was it really true? 

_No, _no..." Zero thought, his common sense in the middle of an epic battle with his own sense of hope. _No... I REFUSE to believe that. There must be a loophole, somewhere..._ He paused for a brief moment before an obvious revelation popped into his head. "Wait a minute... how could Vile have been tricking us when Dr. Cain found out himself that the program he created was still infecting Vile's brain...?" 

"That was OUR doing!" Sigma announced almost gleefully. "We planted the program within him temporarily, knowing that we could easily remove it whenever the time was right. That pathetic program Cain created was destroyed immediately, and our best Maverick technicians - with my help, of course - created a stronger, much more useful copy of it in which Vile would still be able to take orders from me, his master. Cain, that old fool, couldn't tell the difference between the two! None of your technicians could, actually..." 

"No! That doesn't matter!..." Zero shouted in defiance, instinctively charging his buster a bit. "How the hell am I supposed to believe what you're saying?! You're _lying_! I know it... all the evidence points against it... there's no way..." 

"Evidence?! HA!..." Sigma scoffed, his smirk still plastered on his face. "Doubtful you'll be able to find any relevant evidence against my claim. And furthermore, it doesn't even matter if I'm telling the truth or not. The only thing that really matters right now is the inevitable fact that my loyal servant, Vile, will be the sole destroyer of humanity as you know it. It's obvious that X won't be able to last through his wrath much longer. After him, you'll follow, along with every last human and human defender on this mudhole of a planet..." 

_X...?_ He'd almost forgotten about him; his colleague had been fighting with Vile the entire time, and he hadn't even bothered to glance over there and check up on him. Keeping his buster leveled at Sigma's limp frame, the Crimson Hunter turned his head briefly to the direction of the fight on the far side of the room, where X and Vile were still attacking eachother constantly. It was easy to conclude, however, that Vile was beginning to gain the upper hand; though X seemed to have been trying quite a bit, he was starting to fatigue. If Zero didn't get in there and help him out fast, he might not be able to hold out much longer... 

"X... ahh, jeez..." he muttered to himself, baring his teeth at the sight. His glance had lasted only a second or two longer than it should've, however - from below came another sharp blow to Zero's chestplate, prompting him to briefly double over in pain, destroying his thought processes. Looking up, he now saw the body of Sigma once again, his left arm now partially outstretched. 

"If you honestly think I would give up a battle so easily, Zero," Sigma rasped, his voice now stuttering a bit, "then you obviously haven't known me for very long." Upon saying this, the vengeful Reploid King released a partially audible cackle, rearing his left arm back in preparation for another powerful blow. Staring angrily into his blackish-colored eyes, Zero knew deep down that this fight was not going to end quickly. 

* * *

At the moment, the world around former Maverick technician T-17 seemed like one big cosmic blur; he had been running for what seemed like ages with his 'trusty' partner, T-18, depserately trying to keep up the pace behind him. Both of them had quickly ditched their duties on the roof after the incident with X and his Hunters, and after the alarm, they had been in desperate search of a way to safely escape the building. 

"C'mon, 18! Move that oversized body of yours!" 17 shouted, checking the front of every door possible for an escape mechanism's dock. "We don't have much time before this building is blown to bits..." 

"I'm sorry, 17!" shouted his pudgy partner, who was pumping his legs as hard as he could. "I can't reverse my programming! I wasn't exactly created for really, REALLY long running sessions..." 

"I don't care about that!" shouted back 17, breathing heavily. "We've got to get the hell out of this place before something horrible happens to this place... then we'll ALL be screwed. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to try and find anything that'll help us get out of here..." 

"Hey, HERE's something!" T-18 suddenly announced, stopping himself in mid-sentence. "17, c'mere! I think I may have found it already!" 

17, having heard his partner's call loud and clear, immediately stopped himself in his tracks, skidding on the smooth flooring and leaving a distinguishable skid mark. "Really, 18...?" he muttered, turning around and approaching his enthused partner. 

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is it!" 18 said gleefully, pointing to a greyish door with a large, circular red spherical object resting in its center. The door looked distinctly different than every other door within the building, as it lacked any lighter coat of paint or doorknobs. The only awkward thing about it was the sign that rested to the right of it; it seemed to have been scratched out by some mischievous recruit, and rather than its usual message read the words "YOUZ ALL SUXXORZ, d00ds!" written in very sloppy handwriting. 

"That sign..." 17 pointed out, a look of confusion on his face. "It looks like it was meant to say something a little more informative." 

"Ahh, don't worry about it," assured an eager and optimistic 18. "Probably wasn't too important, anyways. Let's just try and open the door." 

"Yeah, good idea," 17 agreed, looking back to the reddish sphere laying in front of him. Cautiously, he placed his hand on the round button, hoping that doing so would allow them access to the room. But alas, there was no response from the door; even after the distressed Maverick techie had held his hand there for an extensive amount of time, nothing happened to prompt the door's opening. 

"Oy, ain't this a whole lotta nuthin'..." 17 complained, sighing to himself as a sign of defeat. "How are we supposed to open this door? Use some kind of magic spell or sumthin'?" 

"How am I supposed to know?!" queried an upset 18. "I guess we just have to think up a way to open it." 

"Oh, come on, I am NOT in the mood for this kind of crap today..." 17 muttered. 

"Well, neither am I," stated 18, "but I'm not giving up. All we need is some brains, determination, and plenty of energy. Speaking of which, I _am_ kind of hungry right now... if we had something to eat, then maybe..." 

"Oh, would you STOP thinking with your synthetic stomach for once?!" shouted an irritated 17. "Now is not the time to start stuffing your face with frickin' mallomars, or whatever you happen to have in mind. We need to figure this thing out fast, or else we'll be sitting ducks in this godforsaken hellho-" 

Before 17 could finish, however, he could feel the sturdiness of the door before him start to slacken. Glancing at the door briefly, he noticed that the former barrier had opened a creak, allowing the former guard to pushthe door all the way open. The two remained speechless at the sight. 

"What the...?" 18 muttered, staring back and forth between the opened door and his friend. "17, how in the name of jahosophat did you manage to open that door?!" 

"I... I don't know!" 17 proclaimed, moving his hand rapidly away from the red sphere. "It just sort of... opened for me. Maybe I uttered a passcode or somethin' without even realizing it..." 

"Gahh, just forget about it," 18 interrupted, taking a step into the darkened room. "Let's just get things sorted out here already. I have a feeling that this room could easily be out ticket to freedom." 

* * *

Never before had Glacier Dragoon ran so amazingly fast in his entire career as a Hunter, or as a living being in general. The desert he had ripped through almost seemed like some kind of extraterrestrial blur; it had gone by so quickly, he had barely time to even remember it. As he navigated his way through the halls of the Maverick fortress, from another viewpoint he could have been mistaken for some veteran Maverick who had known the place like the back of his hand for many years - he seemed to know exactly where he was going, even though he had never set foot in this fortress (or ANY enemy fortress, for that matter) before. Several times during his sprinting, he tried desperately to stop himself midway, consistently questioning himself why he had abandoned his entire unit to pursue some vague intuition. But, after coming this far, he knew it would be impossible for him to turn back. 

It was hard for him to determine exactly what floor he was on right now; he knew it wasn't the first, since he distinctly remembered searching through the entire floor and scaling a set of steps in the middle of the engrossing front lobby. Also, he knew that he couldn't have gotten much further than that particular point - thus, he came to the obvious conclusion that he had been running rampantly around the second floor most of the time, trying to find a trace of any of the Hunters. 

"Magma?!" he shouted desperately, dashing from a side hallway back to the second floor lobby. "X! Zeroooo!!! Where ARE you guys...?" 

The lobby he had entered was somewhat bigger than that of the first floor's, with several doors lining the sides; Glacier had opened almost every one of them, only to find rubble and ash, which were apparently the remains of some large structure that had stood within those walls. As he stopped in the middle of the room to regain some very much needed oxygen, he turned his head every which way, looking for at least one area he hadn't searched through yet. His vision was a bit blurry, but he was still able to see all of the areas he had already covered. Soon enough, however, he noticed a silverish door to his right that he didn't remember going through previously. His energy perking up once again, he dashed in a blue-and-grey blur to the almost glowing entrance, which had seemingly been right in front of his nose the entire time. Digging his claws into the side of the metal, he finally managed to pull the door practically off of its hinges and enter through the breach it left behind... 

...only to be met with the void. Barely managing to stop himself, the energized Dragoon realized that the entire room was just a large, somewhat narrow shaft, probably belonging to an elevator of some kind. Peering warily downwards, Glacier saw that the shaft was actually very deep; he supposed that it barrelled all the way down to the basement floor of the building. However, he also noticed that the shaft led all the way to the top of the building as well, with a bit of light beaming down from far above him. Visibly, there was no actual elevator in sight; it had probably been disabled somehow, possibly by the same force that had turned all the other rooms to rubble. 

_No stairs, no elevators..._ Glacier huffed mentally. _What am I supposed to do, climb up this thing?! And just where the hell am I supposed to go?..._

Suddenly, an explosion sound could be heard right above where Glacier was standing; a loud, booming explosion that caused all of the land around him to vibrate violently. Glacier, inable to keep his balance in check, toppled over from its force and fell against the wall on the other side of the room. Before he could plummet to the depths below, however, he managed to dig his claws into the shaft's side tightly, barely managing to hold himself up. After the explosion had subsided, other noises slowly became more audible - slashes, punches, grunts, yells, cries of pain, plasma shots... they all became blatantly apparent to Glacier, who now knew exactly what was going on up there. 

_I... I think that's X and Zero up there..._ he thought, still clinging on the wall for dear life. _This... is NOT good. They don't sound like they're having the easiest time up there..._

Remarkably, a new surge of determination shot through Dragoon's synthetic veins. In spite of himself, he raised an open palm above him, latching on to a higher level and lifting himself slowly upwards. He would now shut everything out - all distractions, alterior motives, conflicting points and fears - and focus solely on the task at hand... reach the floor above him, and fast. If his comrades were losing it up there, then it would be up to him to bail them out. X... Zero... and maybe even Magma. They all would need to depend on him. 

_I don't care how long it takes..._ he thought. _No matter what... I'm going to have a say in the outcome of this fight._


	27. Vava's Last Stand

**Chapter 27: Vava's Last Stand**

* * *

Never before in his moderately short life had Jet Stingray been put into such an awkward - and embarrassing, for that matter - situation. 

Things had occured way too fast. At first, he was just peering through his dormitory window, intently watching the many activities occuring outside - for one, the Hunters' invasion of their base, and soon afterwards a view of some Hunter airplanes that had were gracefully keeping watch of the fortress from above. Then came the ominous warning from Sigma himself over the loudspeakers, which sent pretty much every Maverick besides he, Spike, and Necrobat in a frenzy. And finally, out of the blue, an alarm sounds and the window is completely sealed off... well, at least it _would_ have been, had the metal seal not clamped down right on Jet's fragile hands. 

"Grrrr... gaaahhhh!!!" the entrapped reploid yelled, trying with all of his might to free his hands of the unyielding metallic barrier. It was all in vain, however - no matter how hard Jet could pull and struggle, the barrier would not give way, leaving the Maverick in a state of complete helplessness. The pain was steadily increasing, and soon enough, it began to form something of a hellish nightmare for Stringray. 

"GAHHHH..." he continued, pulling even harder this time. "Urghhhh... SPIKE! NECRO! I'm gonna need some _serious help_ in here..." 

"WHAAAT, Jet?!" boomed an irrate Spike Rosered, who had just ambled into the room after hearing Jet's horrid screaming. "That must have been the loudest scream I've ever heard you utter." 

"You got THAT right," agreed Dark Necrobat, who followed right behing Rosered. "I was all the way at the other end of the hallway, and I could hear you loud and clear. Just what the frick is goin' on...?" 

"My HANDS!!!" the deranged Maverick exclaimed, still struggling with all the strength he could muster; the pain was slowly spreading throughout his entire body now. "Just LOOK AT THEM! I'm just staring out the window, minding my own business, and then... CRASH! Metal barrier, my HANDS IN THE WAY. And NOW LOOK AT ME...!" 

"Alright, alright!" Spike shouted, attempting to calm down his pestersome friend. "Just caaaalm yo own-self down, boy. Lemme have a look at it first... it can't be THAT bad." 

"Easy for YOU to say!..." Jet angrily replied. He watched as Rosered ambled over, taking his sweet time, until he finally came face-to-face with the pained reploid. Lowering his bulbous head a bit, he observed his comrade's currently incarcarated hands with seemingly little concern, much to Jet's apparent dismay. After only about a few seconds, he realized that the pressure being applied to Jet's hands was surprisingly high; why were these security measures being taken, anyway...? 

"Oy... seems you've gotten yourself into a dilly of a pickle," Spike stated, shaking his head as if informing some kind of feigned pity. Jet was not amused, not in the slightest. 

"Well, _thank you_, Captain Freakin' Obvious!" the stingray exclaimed, his eyes burning with rage. "I didn't realize I was in such a HORRID situation. Now, could you please do something that would give me some _real_ help?!" 

"Oh, you want _reeeeeal_ help. I see now," Spike commented smugly, chuckling a bit to himself. Wordlessly, he extended a mutated arm, directing it straight at the bottom of the metal barrier that just so happened to be where Jet's hands were being smashed. The arm soon shot out another one of Spike's trademark vines, which barely managed to slip under the metallic sheet and partially lift it up. "There. That enough, whine-boy?" he asked his partner jokingly. "You can pull your hands out now." 

"GAAAhhhh... alright..." Jet muttered in a state of frustration, attempting to free his hands once again. No avail. "A little more, Sting! They aren't slackening..." 

"Guhh, fine," Spike grumbled. He shot forth a second spiked vine, which slipped directly under the left side of the metal barrier. Summoning up a bit more energy than before, he used the second vine to once again lift the infernal separator towards the ceiling, retracting it higher than it had ever been before. Jet, taking absolutely no chances, thrusted his relieved hands away, almost falling back-first into a surprised Dark Necrobat. 

"Whew! THAT was a biatch," Jet commented casually, lifting his hands where his eyes could see and observing the nasty-looking black crease marks that had spread throughout the Maverick's poor hands. Though the pain was now beginning to subside, he knew it would be quite a while before those damned marks went away. "Thanks for the help, Rosered. Now that THAT ordeal is over with, I think maybe we should head out to the lobby and find out exactly what's going... uhh, Sting? You okay, buddy?" 

Both Jet and Necrobat stared at their self-proclaimed 'leader' in confusion; rather than retracting his vines and continuing on with his merry little life, he stood completely rigid, staring out the now unbarricaded window, the vines now keeping the barrier all the way up. He seemed to be pondering something. 

"The two of you..." he muttered, his voice gaining an awkward, raspy tone. "You two... it's probably best if you escaped through this window. _Now_. I'll follow..." 

"Wh-_what?"_ Necrobat questioned in complete shock. "Spike, what're you talking about?! We're not escaping..." 

"Well, then maybe we should be!" the rose-topped mutant almost shouted, his face now shooting (symbolic) daggers at the two of them. "Listen... I just thought of something. There's about a 95% chance that this building could be incinerated at any minute now. Vile is fighting the Hunters. Everyone's evacuating. And believe me, these alarms sure as hell ain't for nuthin'." He turned his head back to the hot desert area before him, the sky an eerie shade of orange. "Last I heard, the Maverick forces were escaping through some giant capsule thing. Well, guess what? We've found an easier way! You can thank Chaddy for that one." 

Jet scratched his head a bit. "Well, urr... I'm not sure if that's exactly the smartest way of thinking, Spike. Won't Sigma and everybody have our hides when they find out that we escaped without paying attention to their preplanned escape routes? We would be disobeying orders, suh." 

"Well, yeah. That's a bit inevitable," Spike admitted. "But hey, we can always meet back with them in the long run. If we tell them that it was solely to ensure our own safety, then _maybe_ they'll go easy on us." 

"I doubt that," Necrobat commented. 

"Eh, screw my theories. How about THIS," Spike began again. "You jump outta here, there's a 99% chance of survival. You follow the 'designated' path, I'd say there's a 50% chance, and it would be pretty stuffy in that capsule, I reckon. Well. Somebody gunna jump?" 

For a brief while, Jet and Necro stood completely rigid, their minds battling with themselves. They each exchanged nervous glances before Jet, mustering up all of the courage he possessed, took a step towards the Window of Freedom. Necrobat followed right behind. As the two carefully stepped through the airy opening and breathed in the fresh air of the outside, they knew that their decision would certainly make their lives a LOT more interesting. 

* * *

"Hey, 17..." T-18 called to his slender partner. "I think sumthin' fishy is goin' here." 

T-17, who was leaning against the back wall of their escape capsule, looked to his friend seated at the other side of the room. "'Fishy', 18?" he asked. "What's bothering you?" 

"Well, it's the capsule that seems fishy, mi amigo," 18 replied, lifting his stocky bluish body up from the ground. "I mean, just LOOK at this thing. It's big - very, VERY big. Huge. Mammoth. Gargantuan. Muy grande... well, I think you get my point." 

17 shrugged, almost as if he didn't care less. He could certainly sympathize with his comrade's observation, however - since he had walked into the thing, 17 had certainly noticed the amazingly large size of the capsule, but really hadn't paid a great deal of attention to it. "Yeah, so the place is big, 18. Who cares? It _is_ an escape pod, and at this time, it _is_ what blasted us out of that hellish nightmare of a fortress. I figure we must be pretty far away from that place by now." 

18 was inclined to agree with that logic. Though it was painfully oversized, the capsule was their only hope in escaping the fortress. Though 18 was still kind of wondering what exactly they were running from, he knew better than to ask, because he figured that he would probably just make a total ass of himself. 17 was smarter than him. A lot smarter. 

"Let's just relax for now," 17 commented, "and let this capsule thing's navigator lead the way. Though to be honest, I really have no idea where the hell-diddly-el this thing is taking the two of us. I mean you'd think that there would be some kind of indication, like a note or something, you know? But instead, nothing. Oy gevault... but then again, why am I complaining! We're free! We're safe! We're starting a new life, filled with boundless opportunities and benefits... hey, 18, are you even _listening_ to me?" 

Nope. T-18, standing completely rigid on the far side of the room, was currently staring at a small piece of faded yellow paper that he had just happened to find lieing on the smooth floor amongst some dust. What he had seen printed on it, however, had apparently stunned him to no end; his face was plastered with a look of explicit horror. He met his partner at eye-level again after a few moments. 

"Guh... 17..." he muttered nervously, his hands now shaking a bit. "Oh... my... you might wanna take a look... at this... HO-boy..." 

"What the...? What's your problem, 18?" the surly technician queried, marching over to his friend. "Gimmie that," he snapped, snatching the small bit of parchment from 18's throbbing fingers. After eyeing it over for only a few seconds, his veins gradually began to pump nothing but ice, seemingly; his nerves were shot. Still trying to justify exactly what he was reading, he decided to read the thing out loud to confirm it's reality: 

"'M... Maverick escape pod'..." he read faintly, the panic slowly rising in his voice. "'In case of emergency, ALL MAVERICK FORTRESS INHABITANTS ARE TO BOARD THE POD... if any Maverick or group of Mavericks is to not follow this procedure, they will be located ASAP and subjected to... immediate and harsh punishment..." He lowered the paper from his eye level, revealing his wide and frightened eyes. 

There was a pause. A long, vexing pause, in which all that could really be heard was the soft whirring of the capsule's engine below. Slowly, the two looked into eachother's faces, exchanging looks of unfeigned horror and disbelief. 

"All... Mavericks?" 18 muttered. "That means... that means that..." 

"They're stranded..." 17 finished for him. "All of the Mavericks... they're left in the building to die... and it's all our fault..." 

Another pause. It was taking an amazingly long amount of time for the reality and danger of the situation to truly sink in, but from the looks on their faces, they were definitely shocked by the revelation. 

"Well... things can't be _that_ bad, right...?" T-17 stuttered, trying to withold any shred of optimism he could find. "I mean, they don't KNOW that we took the capsule... I don't they'll be able to track us down very easily..." 

"Yeah, yeah, you're right..." T-18 hastily agreed, nodding and smiling a bit; he was obviously attempting to latch on to any kind of positive thought possible. "They can't track us just like _that_, right? We'll be perfectly fine... we just should let this capsule lead us to safety, and not mention another word about this little... err, incident..." 

But things were never to end up in 18's favor. Almost immediately after 18's attempt at consolation, an amazingly powerful _CHASH!_ sound could be heard from below, soon causing the entire capsule to shake and vibrate violently; the two technicians began to find it a challenge to keep their balance. Following the sound, however, was something that 17 and 18 certianly did not want to hear - complete, unbroken silence. It seemed as if the engine had suddenly stopped running. 

A third pause; the most gut-wrenching of them all. 17 could've squealed in fright. "What the... what just... happened?" he barely managed to spew out of his bone-dry mouth, his nerves now almost completely shot. 

"I... I think..." 18 sputtered, breaking the silence once again. "We must've... hit something. I think it... damaged... the engine..." 

There were no more plausible words to be exchanged in that giant capsule. Before one could say 'screwed', the air pressure from far beneath the capsule began to rush upwards like a mighty gail, hitting the faulty transportation mechanism as strongly as possible as it began to plunge to the desert ground. All that could be heard now were the sounds of two helpless beings' screams of agony and fright as they forcefully descended to the murky desert depths below, only to be met with darkness. 

* * *

One last thrust into the unknown - that was all that was left. And the lone Hunter, though tired, breathless and thoroughly unnerved, managed to harness the power of that thrust. 

Though it certainly was a struggle for Glacier Dragoon, he had finally reached the end of the trail; the elevator shaft had formed a large opening on its right side, which Dragoon had managed to latch onto only minutes before. His body was screaming signals at him, ones that he tried to ignore with every shred of willpower he possessed, and he knew that when he reached the surface of the building's third floor, there would be a good chance that things would take a turn for the worst. But at this point, he couldn't care less; he had made it, and now he could finally come to the aid of this comrades and hopefully give them a better chance at victory. 

"Urgh... c'mon... damned arms..." he complained between breaths as he gradually lifted himself into the red-tinted hallway, pushing his open palms against the edge of the floor with as much strength as he could muster. Soon enough, his feet finally implanted themselves on the smooth tiled floor, and Glacier was able to get up from his crouching position and take a good look around him; as far as he could now see, the hallway he was in wasn't terribly long. The sounds of the battle had become much clearer now - nothing could really be seen from the narrow view of the hallway, but hell, he knew exactly what was going on in there. 

His mind was jarbled up at the moment - and again, as he stood motionless at the end of that forgotten hallway trying to catch his breath, his common sense started to challenge him with a tyrade of questions. _Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!_ he heard it angrily scold. _Do you realize that you could get yourself KILLED if you keep on going? Why can't you just let the more experienced and talented fighters take care of the situation...?_

"Shut _up_..." he whispered to himself, feeling almost as if there was a totally seperate being resident in his body at the time. Taking one final, large gulp of air, he closed his eyes and lectured himself in the silence. "C'mon, Glaicer... focus, focus. Gotta keep going, gotta keep going..." 

It was only moments later before he opened his eyes and took one step forward, one step closer to the apparent battlefield. Soon enough, he found himself in a full walking stride, slowly but surely advancing, the gap at the end of the hall becoming bigger and bigger. His face was hardened and serious, his fists were clenched tightly, and his legs were moving without him - now, at this moment, he knew that turning back was completely impossible. However, it was only a matter of seconds before his common sense kicked back into full gear, this time barraging the poor Dragoon with double the strength it had possessed before. 

_Why?!_ it continued to screech. _Glacier, why are you still walking? Why won't you just stop, turn around, and let THEM handle it?!_ Finally, there came the question that had become the most prominent in his cluttered mind: _Why, for the sake of all things good in this world, are you thoughtlessly putting your own life on the line...?_

He couldn't ignore it any longer. As he began to approach that fateful wall opening, he searched his mind for some kind of answer, something sensible that would ward off the overly powerful screeches of his common sense. Soon enough, one phrase became amazingly clear in his head, and while he knew it sounded completely trite and corny, he also knew that it was the only phrase that he could really make any sense out of. He answered himself: _'Cause I gotta._

Red light came pouring over his entire body, shifting the Dragoon's hue from its usual light blue into a darkish, somewhat eeire shade of purple. The red light had become much powerful than before; the entire room he was in was that color. Subconsciously, that once powerful voice in his head began to slowly fade away, its questions now becoming completely irrelevant and useless. Because there were no other options now. He had entered the room. 

And furthermore, he was completely shocked with what he was immediately presented with. 

Four combatants were engaged in battle on the far side of the room, close to two other branching hallways that formed gaps in the corners. Immediately he noticed that the lobby itself seemed to have almost the exact same structure plan as the previous ones - that is, if you ruled out the fact that it was about triple their size. IT seemed as if the room had been ravaged completely from the consistent battling of the four - scorch marks, electrical sparks, and crevices in the walls were everywhere, obviusly symbolizing that the current battle was an extremely violent and destructive one. 

He was able distinguish who was fighting without too much trouble. X and Zero were clearly visible, both brawling against two individual opponents that Glacier had difficulty identifying at first. The one Zero was fighting was a muscular one, with whitish-greenish armor, a completely bald head, and a severed right arm. Not only that, but it seemed as if the reploid was dodging Zero's saber attacks with surprising agility. It could only be Sigma... so, he had come back? 

"Jesus, that is _definitely_ Sigma," Glacier whispered to himself. The four were so amazingly attentive to their own battles that they never managed to notice the concerned Dragoon. He knew he was safe from the battlefield for a time, however, due to the fact that the room itself was quite large and they fought on the complete opposite side to where he stood. From his view, he began to make other observations. "Sigma and Zero... they seem like they're even, almost. But then there's X, and it doesn't look like he's having a fun time. Who's THAT guy he's fighting...?" 

X was struggling with his fight, it seemed. The short, golden-armored figure he was tumbling with appeared to be gaining the upper hand, and was countering each and every blow the Blue Bomber dished out with an even more powerful one of his own. It was certainly a rare sight, X losing like this; then again, Glacier had never really witnessed many of X's numerous victories. Though both resembled nothing but clashing blurs to him at the time, it wasn't hard to tell who that other reploid was, and why X was losing so unexpectedly... it had to be... 

"Glai...cer..." 

A raspy, weak voice destroyed his thought processes. At first it just seemed awkward, frightening, foreign... but for some strange reason, it seemed all too familiar. He looked to the ground, almost right at his feet, and saw... 

"Magma...?" He couldn't believe what he was seeing. A reploid, a dragon reploid, red armored and badly damaged, as it would appear... he looked completely helpless, cowering on the ground, weak, struggling to keep his eyes opened and maintain consciousness. He had several noticable wounds, the most prominent ones being a large gash to his side and a nasty injury in one of his legs. Yes, this was indeed his brother... but he looked nothing like the brother he had seen before this whole ordeal began. 

"Christ, Magma!" Glacier almost heard himself shout, kneeling down to almost meet his defeated sibling at eye level. "What the... what the hell happened to you? Who the hell DID this to you?!" The sight of Magma's mangled body was now starting to take its toll on the horrified Glacier. 

The injured crimson Dragoon gasped helplessly for breath, his own body failing on him. He was convulsing now, shaking violently, his eyes shut tightly and his teeth painfully bared. He was struggling now, trying desperately to hold on for a few more moments, to tell his brother exactly what he needed to hear before his body gave out. Finally, after a major struggle, he stared directly into his brother's eyes and his vocal cords returned to life as he muttered the syllables: "Vi... vi... VI... le..." 

And that was it. The wretched convulsing stopped, his eyes slowly closed up, his arms and legs fell limply to the floor. Desperate and worried, Glacier checked hs brother's systems quickly to see his condition... he was alive, thank heavens. He was in a deep state of stasis, however; his auto-repair systems were keeping his bodily functions in order, and he was still gradually breathing, though not very rapidly. Also, his wounds would definitely cause him a lot of unneeded trouble, as they were large and deep. At this point, Glacier knew immediately that Magma needed to be taken away from the battlefield to a temporary safe-haven, until some actual medical help could be sought out; he wished he could do more for his fallen brother, but he also knew damn well that there wasn't much else he could do to help. 

"Oy... this is REALLY not good..." Glacier painfully observed as he lifted his sibling's comatose body up from the ground, slinging him over his right shoulder. Making sure not to cause any more damage to his body than was needed, he slowly carried him over to the same hallway he had entered through, laying him down against the right wall. He was safe for now, away from the battlefield, from any further harm... but Glacier knew that he and the other Hunters would have to finish the battle as quickly as possible. Otherwise... 

"Just hang tight, Magma," he told his sleeping comrade, ignoring the fact that he couldn't be heard. "I'll take care of things from here." 

At that moment, a new rage began to brew within Glacier, one that had already been building deep inside of him ever since he had sensed the enormous danger that his friends were in, while with Icarus. The reality of the situation suddenly rushed through his mind, like a dam unexpectedly giving way; X, Zero, and Magma had all been fighting in a Maverick fortress. All three of them were placed into a complete state of danger - X was desperately trying to keep himself defended, while Zero was sacrificing almost too much of his own energy in trying to inflict damage upon his nimble opponent. And Magma... Magma had been beaten ruthlessly, mercilessly, by his opponent, and had apparently come too close to death for comfort. That meant that... if X were to be finished, and the last two were to team up on Zero, then... oh no... 

He found himself in the room again; he'd gotten so caught up in thought that he hadn't been able to keep track of where he was going. When he got another glimpse of the battle, however, he was even more horrified; that monster... that's what he was, the monster that was fighting X, was standing completely still, his mounted shoulder cannon aiming directly at his opponent. X himself was down; apparently, he'd just been knocked to his feet by his opponent, and was struggling to get himself back up. But Vile's cannon... right at him. If he got a good shot at him... oh jeez, and Zero can't help him, he's... 

_Vile..._ was the only word running through Glacier's fettered mind, his rage going beyond its breaking point. _Vile... DAMN HIM._

He charged. He didn't even bother trying to keep control of his body anymore... what use would control do for him now? All that Glacier knew now was that Vile needed to be stopped... he didn't care how good he was in the past, what kind of redemption he was trying to accomplish, or how much he and the others had formerly trusted him... he had changed for the worse, and that was all that mattered. As he ruthlessly charged at his opponent, with his teeth bared, fists tightened, and eyes open with rage, everybody else in the room disappeared for a moment as the enraged Dragoon centered in on his target... 

* * *

The great and powerful OmegaVile couldn't have been enjoying this moment more. 

"You know that you can't escape me," the bloodthirsty Maverick rasped at his current plaything. "It doesn't matter how much you try, my Hunter friend. The field isn't just going to break apart, like magic, like some kind of random miracle... not like our pitiful first encounter." 

He loved watching it. His arch-nemesis, the very bane of his existence, the one who had single-handedly ruined his reputation and destroyed every fiber of dignity left within him... now HE was being tortured, HE was struggling to stay alive, and now HE would be the one to die at HIS HANDS. 

X's body writhed with consistent pain as he constantly tried to free himself of the electrical confinement that had encased his entire frame. During their skirmish, Omega had succeeded in forcing X to waste away a great deal of his energy level before getting a few well-timed hits on him, and then, finally, trapping him in the barrier that would forever seal his fate. It came so fast, so unexpectedly... and X, feeling almost the exact same way that he had felt back during the first uprising, was totally unprepared and unequipped to fend against it. And now, he was stuck on the ground, easier to kill than shooting fish in a barrel. 

"It's enjoyable to watch you struggle, Hunter..." Vile continued, donning his monotone, now commonplace voice, one that sent chills down X's synthetic spine. "It's enjoyable, I personally believe, because it's justified. Maybe you don't realize it, my friend, but I have been waiting a VERY long time for this to happen. What you have reduced me to since our first battle has been... _unforgivable."_ His eyes flickered with hellish light as he approached his helpless nemesis, the shoulder cannon on his back aimed directly at him; currently, it was the force that was holding X strongly in place. "What I have been through during our years apart has been some kind of horrid nightmare... and during all of that time I have been brewing in my own juices, hating you more every day, wanting to forever halt your existence, but lacking the ability to do so... do you know what that FEELS LIKE?!" The anger in his voice was rising, forming an unbalanced mix with his monotone voice. "But now, things will change, Hunter. Once I have ended your pathetic life, I guarantee that you will experience the EXACT SAME HELL that I was forced to experience for all these years. Only difference is, though, that unlike my torture, yours will be infinite. I will send you to an eternity of Hell, of anguish, of fear, of emotional torture... and I will remain here, in the physical world, laughing and celebrating in the glory of my victory." 

"B...b... _bastard_..." was all the incarcarated X could utter. Not only was he being confined by the strength of Vile's electrical barrier, but by fear and anger as well; Vile's words had just continued to enrage him, prompting him to struggle against the eletricity once again and only to be met with the same excrutiating, unbearable pain. Soon enough, that pain became so unbearable that the Hunter was forced to give up with his feeble attempts, his energy now practically sapped. Vile's eyes glowed with extreme malice as his shoulder cannon began to emit a soft, greenish glow, still aiming directly at X. The charge had reached midway when Vile was about to fire the shot, the shot that would finish X off for good... 

...but something stopped him. He was milliseconds away from firing that fatal shot when he felt something strange, something unnatural, coming at him directly from his left. What was that... an inbalance in the air, or something? The enraged Maverick turned his head for a split-second, to inspect exactly what the problem was before enacting out his revenge. And all he was met with was the inevitable fact that it was far too late. 

Something - something surprisingly strong - had struck him head-on, right in the face. He tried to get a good look at how he had gotten attacked, but it was impossible. The blow, while not knocking him off of his feet, caught him by total surprise and jarred his mental abilities quite a bit. His senses started going out of control; his eyes completely blurred, his entire cranium became completely numb, his memory even started to bug out on him a bit. He was totally confused, totally dumbed down with shock, and was constantly asking himself - what the hell had just happened?! 

But things would soon become worse for the disgruntled Maverick. It had been barely seconds after the first blow had been dealt that a second attack was brought forth - this one, however, seemed to contain even more malice, surprise, and sheer power than the last. It felt like a fist, a fist being jammed right into the side of the head, one that seemed to have come from right below him... no, it couldn't have been... 

But for Vile it was too late to ponder who had attacked who. The last blow to the head had, unlike the first, propelled him off of his feet and sent him crashing to the ground, skidding against the floor and eventually ramming him head-first into the front wall. Both blows had caused severe damage to his mind... his thoughts were swarming, his mind was fighting an inner battle with itself... something had been set loose within his mind, some obscure thought or idea, that had come from somewhat distant and somewhat recent memories. His mind continued to argue with itself over this obscure idea as his vision faded to black... 

* * *

Glacier kneeled down; he needed to regain some energy. Surprising himself beyond all means, he had just hurled himself against the tyrannous OmegaVile, driving his large clawed foot right into his face. And then, before he could even recover from dealing out his own attack, another came out of seemingly nowhere - X, who had somehow managed to find the strength to break free of his confinement, had risen to his feet long enough to deal a firm, off-the-fly punch directly in Vile's left "cheek", so to speak. Now both of them were breathing heavily, standing somewhat slouched over, and for a few seconds completely unable to speak to eachother. 

"Glacier..." X managed to say between breaths, breaking their brief silence and nursing his reddened left hand; other than that minor injury, he seemed to be in decent condition. "You... you alright?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Dragoon muttered in response with his hands on his knees, looking up at his fellow Commander with a mixed expression of shock and pure admiration. What X had just done was certainly beyond the abilities of any ordinary Hunter; to think, after all of that torture brought upon by Vile, he was still able to regain his composure and deal an extremely effective attack, all in a very short amount of time. Something then became very clear to Glacier... so, _this_ was the reason why he was called a legend. 

"Nice... to see ya again," X said with assurance, flashing his comrade a somewhat weak smile. "Your timing was perfect there... hit him just in time. How'd you find us up here...?" 

"Ugh, long story," the physically taxed dragon replied in a huff of frustrated breath. "What I want to know right now is... just what the _hell_ has been going on up here? I saw Magma on the other side of the room, and he was mangled up pretty badly... got him to a safe area for now, figured the culprit was Vile, then attacked..." 

"Well, luckily, you figured right," X stated, glancing back at Vile's body, which seemed to be in something of a comatose state. "Seems that Sigma's altered Vile for the worst, since he was captured... all the workings of Mavericks... this whole fortress, this whole plan." He switched his glance to the far right side of the room, where Zero was still tirelessly battling with Sigma. "As for your brother, he went off without us... wanted to fight Vile by himself, and reduced every possible passageway up here to ashes so we wouldn't get involed... would've gotten himself killed if we hadn't arrived in time." He turned back to Glacier. "That's why I'm a bit surprised... that you made it up here so fast. All of the elevators and stairways were destroyed... how...?" 

"Your guess is as good as mine, X... I'm not sure how I did it, myself," Glacier responded, his voice cracking a bit upon realizing that Magma had been partially responsible for this whole mess. He'd always known his brother had become something of an arrogant idjit since the brink of the third Maverick uprising, but this act went _far_ beyond the Magma he knew back when they were just ambitious rookies together at the Hunter HQ. He winced a bit when he remembered that training session they had held together weeks before... seemed like decades. He recalled the malice in his brother's eyes, the expression on his face... almost as if he had the intent of killing his closest comrade and friend. Could that malice have finally grasped control of his mind...? 

"Glacier...!" X suddenly yelped, interrupting Glacier's thoughts. After directing his glance back to his fellow Commander, the Dragoon could clearly see that his previously relieved face had instantaneously converted into a hardenend, stone serious look of concern. "It's Vile..." he continued, his eyes narrowed on his target. "I... I think he's getting back up." 

And it was so. Heeding the Blue Bomber's words, he immediately swung his head in the direction X happened to be staring; sure enough, the short helmetted Maverick was attempting to get on his feet, his entire body shaking in an extremely unnatural manner. After only a few more seconds, the injured Maverick managed to return to a stance position, his body looking a bit dirtied from the fall he was just forced to endure. Both Hunters noted that he was still shaking constantly, his eyes flared and his fists clenched at his sides. It seemed as if he were staring at the ground instead of straight at them, like something was bothering him... 

"Damn, even after an attack like that, he's..." Glacier stated with implied malice as he began to outstretch his right arm directly towards the Maverick offender. Smiling, he watched as his arm began to cover itself with some kind of bluish aura, as if he were charging an attack. "X, don't worry about this guy..." Dragoon mentioned snidely as he prepared to fire the shot. "I'll take care of him!" 

"NO, GLACIER, _WAIT!!_" X suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, swifty thrusting a protective arm in front of his eager. Glacier, completely taken by surprised, slowly began to lower his arm as he constantly glanced back-and-forth between X and Vile. X's face had now gone beyond serious; his mouth was agape, his eyes were wide open, his body was rigid and straightened up. From the looks of it, his previous fears of Vile had vanished in the blink of an eye; now, all that he was feeling was concern, the concern that there was something seriously wrong with Vile. 

"Listen, Glaicer," X instructed his friend, breathing heavily. "Hear me out for a second. I know this may sound crazy, but... please, just STAY AWAY FROM VILE. I can sense something about him that's wildly different than before... something triggered when we attacked him a moment ago. I don't know WHAT the hell it was, but it was something, and it seems to be effecting him for the worse right now..." He shook his head in apparent pity. "Both of us... need to stay away from him. He could be less of a danger than before, but then again, he could be even WORSE. And honestly, I don't want either of us taking that risk... so please, just stay back..." 

Glacier fell silent. X looked disturbed, very disturbed, at what he was watching... was his premonition right? He turned back to glance at Vile, still confused about the entire situation; Vile was shaking, for sure, but just what the hell did that mean? Hasn't he shaken like that before, or was the Dragoon just completely mistaken? It seemed that his confusion and distress would never end... 

...that is, until he heard Vile's disturbed voice crying out in anguish and despair. 

* * *

_No... NO, DAMMIT!!..._ Vile screamed mentally as he clutched his helmetted cranium, trying to stop his mind from transforming itself. It was hellish, tortourous... he was being driven mad, insane, completely out of his mind by this one solitary, stupid idea that had somehow formulated in his brain. It was one of the most horrible feelings he had ever felt in his life, like something ripping away at his soul, his heart, his sanity... worse than anything he had ever experienced, ever. What had happened to him?! 

"NO!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, thrusting his hands away from his head as he began to feel overly-powerful electrical energy surging through it. "No... GOD DAMN YOU... _STOOOOOP!!"_

But there was nothing he could do; the damage was done, long done. That idea, that one solitary, stupid, and utterly ridiculous idea... was destroying his self-being, turning his entire body against him, forming himself into something that he had always strived desperately never to be, under any possible circumstances. No, he would NOT let it destroy him, he would fight this, he would KEEP his hate, he would KILL those who had harmed him in the past, JUSTICE would be served... 

_No... NO WAY..._ he battled mentally once again, the electricity around his body now becoming considerably more powerful, more heated, and so horribly intense that it felt as if he would fall dead right then and there. _No... this is NOT GOING TO DEFEAT ME!! I want MY VENGEANCE... HUNTERS... NEED TO DIE!! NO... I don't care if this thing takes me over... my hate... will never die... YOU HEAR ME?! MY HATE WILL NEVER DIE..._

And then, that form of him was forever silenced. The idea, the one that he had been keeping buried within him for days, weeks, months, _years_... it had rebirthed itself, finally, like a pheonix rising from the ashes. Finally, Vile's body began to crackle with a brilliant orange hue, the pain within him rising beyond the breaking point as the transformation reached its ultimate climax. His body convulsed violently, his entire body seemed to betray him, his senses began to shut down, and his mind almost exploded as he shouted one final scream of horrific agony... 

...and then, peace. 

It all began to end like one giant falling motion. His body stopped convulsing. The electrical sparks that had previously consumed him fizzled out. His artificial muscles, which had been completely tensed up only moments before, were now able to relax. And, most importantly, his mind had healed, as it seemed... it felt pure, tranquil, though at the same time he could sense a darker feeling that had been suppressed. Would it belong before this dark feeling became more and more powerful...? 

His vision had returned to him; all of his senses were finally back to life, as if he were being born anew. He opened his darkened eyes to find himself standing in front of a group of... people, people he recognized from some time past. He remembered loathing them, wanting to annihilate all of them with his power... but, for some reason, he could not conjure up the will to do so. He then remembered something he'd promised to do before, something about a redemption... and soon enough, it all became perfectly clear. 

* * *

"X... Glacier... Zero..." a kind, familiar voice called. "It's... nice to see all of you again." 

Everybody and everything in the room had suddenly stopped, as if time itself was being suspended. The commotion with Vile had quickly prompted Zero and Sigma to halt their fighting; now, they just stared at the foreign orange figure, mouth agape in shock. X and Glacier were even more shocked, as the horrific event had occured right in front of them, practically; they'd almost been knocked off of their feet from the kind of power Vile had been releasing just then. So now... what had happened to him? 

"It seems like ages since I've seen all you," the orange being continued, examining everything around him like a blind man who had just gotten his vision back. "Ages... since the day I returned to the world. The past days have been very hectic... it seems that I've caused a great deal of damage since then. And for that, I apologize..." 

_"Sunshine?!"_ X almost shouted, the hurt and fright in his voice distinctly present. "What... you've gone and 'reformed' again?" He gave his former enemy a look of complete distrust. 

The orange figure chuckled to himself - not in a mocking way, but out of mild amusement in X's words. "X... I'm sorry... that I've forced you to act this way," he said with implied sentiment. "You dislike me, and that's obvious. I should have never tried to change that in the past." His eyes brightened a bit, but without malice this time around. "And to answer your question... well, yes and no. I'm no longer Vile, but I'm also not the other extreme, 'Sunshine'. I've become the medium between the two, my real form, the one my creator had always wanted me to be. Dr. Cain called me 'Vava'... and this is who I really am." 

Glacier Dragoon's teeth were fully bared; he wasn't believing a word of what Vile was saying. Pure form? Pshaw, hadn't he endured stronger attacks than a punch like that? It seemed like he was pulling something, trying to feed off of all their emotions and then strike them when their backs were turned... 

"I don't know how I returned to this form..." 'Vava' continued. "Something was jarred from my memory when I was attacked, I believe. Maybe it was some kind of bizarre act of fate, maybe it was a miracle... I don't really know." 

"OMEGA!" shouted Sigma's angry voice from the other side of the room. "WHAT IN MY GRANDMOTHER'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY _INSANE?!"_

"Glacier Dragoon," Vava continued as he turned to face the Dragoon, ignoring Sigma's screams. "Yes... that's your name. I believe that your brother and I engaged in battle before, and I caused him some extremely severe injuries. It upsets me greatly that this kind of fate has befallen him, because I believe that he is an honorable fighter. Please, take care of him, and make sure that his wounds are treated as soon as possible. With the proper aid, he will be fine in a short amount of time." 

"Yeah..." the confused and distrusting Dragoon muttered under his breath. "I'll, uhh... do that." 

"Good, good," he replied softly. "It seems... like I've caused far too much trouble because of my past decisions. Even as 'Sunshine', I've been at fault, with me just ambling out into the world and expecting everybody to just start trusting me after all of the mistrust I've displayed to them in the past. And now... I've put everybody in this world into grave danger..." 

"VILE! YOU WILL STOP THIS NONSENSE _RIGHT NOW_!!" shouted Sigma once again, who had managed to stand himself up. "Omega, this will not continue. You are STILL UNDER MY CONTROL, do you hear me??" He began to stomp angrily towards Vava, his teeth clenched in anger. "I don't even care anymore if this is a trick! You will NOT sympathize with the enemies, and if you continue to act this way, then I will PERSONALLY PUNISH YOU! I GUARANTEE THAT-" 

But he would never finish his sentence. Out of seemingly nowhere, he found himself face-to-face with a giant surge of electrical energy so powerful that it knocked him right off of his feet, landing him on his back. The Reploid King screamed in pain as he vainly attempted to regain his composure, only to be met with unyielding electric shocks. His energy giving way, he sprawled out straight on his back, barely unable to even lift up his head. 

"SIGMA..." Vava said with loathing, a tone that the Hunters knew 'Sunshine' would never normally use. "No... this ordeal has not been entirely my fault. I remember, it was _you..._ you convinced me to let my violent side control me, you encouraged me to murder humans and Hunters, you refused to let me sleep as a failed project. You convinced Doppler to revive me, as well... and now, you've released ALL of the evil in me and forced me to almost kill these Hunters. You infected me with that damned Maverick Virus, all those years ago... and for that, Sigma, I may never forgive you for what you've done. Not in this lifetime." 

"Stupid... FOOL!..." Sigma managed to blurt out. "Never... should have... wasted... my time... with you..." 

"Maybe so," Vava admitted, "but at this point, I don't care. All that matters now is, I'm going to eradicate everything of yours. This building, your Mavericks, and YOU. I dislike using violence to solve problems in most situations, but right now, this is all that I can do for the sake of the Earth and mankind. I am going to finally redeem myself... and to do so, I'm going to destroy this building, as well as myself. And there's nothing you can do to prevent that." 

"Vile - _what?!_" a shocked Zero exclaimed, who had been slowly following behind Sigma and was now right next to him. "Hold the phone, Mayble. Did I hear you say that you were going to destroy the building, as well as..." 

"...myself. Yes," Vava finished for him, his voice becoming a little somber. "I know it may sound a bit unorthodox, but there is a perfectly plausible reason as to why it must be done. You see, even in the pure, normal form that I'm in now, in far from remaining stable. I know that, if I were to try and live in the real world as I am now, I would never be able to remain this way without turning into the violent monster that I was in my past. I can feel it... it's begging to take control of my mind once more. That monster, OmegaVile, needs to be destroyed as soon as possible... otherwise, the fate of mankind will be in jeopardy." 

"But..." X began, shaking a bit. "Don't you think... someone like Dr. Cain could take care of that for you? He's a smart guy, he could..." 

"It's wishful thinking, X, but believe me now when I say that it will be a futile effort," Vava calmly replied, lowering his head solemnly as if implying that he was a lost cause. "There is no doctor, living or dead, who could save me from this curse. There is only one way out, and that way if my destruction. And, once that is done, my redemption will hopefully be completed at last. But first..." He turned towards Zero, who stood with his mouth still agape and a confused expression displayed on his face. "I need to make a final peace with you." 

"Final... peace?" Zero mumbled in utter bewilderment. "Vile, are you _sure_ you haven't turned mentally ill...?" 

"Please, Zero, hear me out for a second," Vava began, approaching the Crimson Slayer. "I know that it won't be easy for any of you to truly forgive me for what I have done, since I have affected all of your lives very negatively in some way. You, Zero... not only did I encase you in a Maverick cage all those years ago, but I prompted you to willingly pay the ultimate price in order to save the life of your closest comrade. I have put you and a great deal of others through a great deal of anguish, and though I know it is far too late now for you to forgive me, I offer you now my formal apology." With that, he extended a hand to the former rival. "I'd like to leave you in peace." 

"Peace...?" Zero repeated, staring at the extended hand in utter confusion. What was he supposed to do now? How was he supposed to believe that this was a _real_ apology, that this monster was really reformed for the better, that he was actually going to destroy himself for their sake? Could he really take that risk...? 

He could, and he did. His hand met Vava's, and they shook hands for only a second; there were no tricks, no flicks of the wrists, no violent hand crushings, no unexpected attacks... just a brief, gentle handshake, one that seemed to have ended before it had begun. Vava seemed relieved, partially. 

"Thank you, Zero," Vava said with a bit of relief. "Now... there is one more thing that I must do before I leave you. X..." 

X froze in his boots as he heard his name being called out. Vile... no, Vava, or whatever he was calling himself now, was slowly approaching him, the clanking of his boots sounding against the smooth flooring. X wanted to back away, to even _run_ away from him... he couldn't trust him, he could never really trust him. But something was preventing him from leaving, some unknown force kept him planted in his spot... was it fear, or something else? 

"X..." Vava began, the sympathy rising in his voice. "You will... never forgive me, not for what I have done. As the Maverick you have known me to be in the past, I have caused you the most anguish out of anybody else in this world. During the first war, I treated you like complete garbage, even comparing you to scrap metal. And, even worse, I not only forced your best friend to kill himself on your behalf, but I almost ended up killing you as well. And then, after I was revived by Doppler, I did something that has caused you severe mental anguish since the end of that war; during my death, I promised to haunt you until the day of your death. And now... I've come close to killing you once again, increasing your torture tenfold. What I have put you through... can never be cured." 

"Yeah, you got _that_ right!" X exclaimed, glaring at the Maverick menacingly. He felt himself trembling a bit, still reserving some fear for the golden being. 

"I wish that I could erase the past..." Vava continued, staring longingly to the ground. "I wish I could restart my life for the better... but I know that that is impossible. But maybe there is _something_ I can do, something to partially ease the pain..." He extended another hand to the Blue Bomber, looking straight into his former rival's eyes. "Maybe we can leave in peace, as well." 

"Guh, are you _nuts?!"_ X suddenly blurted out, taking a few steps back. "You think... I'm just going to shake your hand, just like that, and everything's just going to be okey-dokey again? Well, then you can just FORGET about..." 

"Please, X," Vava interrupted, seemingly unfazed by his reluctance. "Believe me, I never contemplated things ever becoming alright between us. But X, I believe that the best we can do is leave as comrades, not enemies. I want you to disregard that threat of haunting you until the day you die... I want to try and ease your mental anguish at least a little. I would die happy knowing that I had at least shaken your hand, friend." 

"Might as well do it, X," Zero chimed in, still listening in on the scene with awe. "I mean, I did it, and... well, I'm starting to believe that he's pretty serious about this whole thing." 

X paused to think for a moment. This was, without a doubt, one of the most awkward situations he had ever found himself in. It all seemed to have happened way too fast for him; this monster of an enemy, who he had been wary of for years and served as his rival at times, had suddenly converted and wanted to make peace with him? To shake his hand, to leave him as an ally? It just seemed too out of whack. Could he just submit to this former madman so easily? Would it accomplish anything...? 

"Al... all right..." he muttered a bit, finally extending his own hand to grasp Vava's. It was a very short, somewhat firm handshake, but it spoke volumes. After it was over, an awkward feeling traveled through X's armored body... what was that? Relief? Maybe - it was like the feeling one gets when they finally get the opportunity to take a heavy object off of their shoulders. He ended up feeling a lot better after the handshake was over, like a part of him had been healed... something that he had never expected to happen. 

"Yes... thank you, X," Vava finished. "And please, if you will, give Dr. Cain my regards. I'm sure he would be happy to see me as he had always envisioned... but now, I think it's time we end the formal goodbyes and get down to business. What I'm going to do is teleport myself to the second floor security deck, where most of the building's internal operations are kept in check... and I will self-destruct from there, creating a blast powerful enough to bring this entire building crashing to the ground. The three of you... need to get out of here as soon as possible." 

"And... how exactly are we supposed to _do_ that?" Glacier butted it with concern. "I mean, all of the exits are sealed off aren't they?" 

"Oh, it may appear that way, Glacier," Vava continued, "but there is an overlooked passageway in this building that the Mavericks forgot to seal up with the rest of the building. It's an underground river... the only major source of water the Mavericks have had in this barren desert. There are two ways that it can be reached, both from the first floor - there's the 'official' route, which takes far too long to go through... and then, there's the quick way of escape. And that's jumping." 

"Whoa whoa whoa..." X said with disbelief, holding his hand out. "Slow down a bit. You're telling me that we're gunna have to JUMP into a giant, murky river of water...?" 

"If you want to leave here alive, I'm afraid it's the only option. From there, you can travel through the desert underground and reach safety. Follow that path, and I promise you that you will escape here safe and sound." Vava continued sentimentally. He then released something similar to a sigh, sounding even a bit remorseful. "So now... I guess it's time for me to leave all of you. I wish... I wish that none of this had happened, that I could spend some more time with you, get to know you more. But that will never happen... I know that will never happen." He turned his back to the trio of Hunters, looking up to the ceiling. "But I just need to give you a warning, for the future. I know that soon, more conflicts will arise, and you will probably be called to action at some other points in your lives. So I give you some final advice - try to use violence only when it is totally necessary, and never, under ANY circumstances, transform into the monster that I formerly was." He lowered his head. "Well... thank you, all of you. Continue your battle, and I hope that someday, your dream of human and reploid coexistence and really come to be. Remeber the route of escape I told you of... it's the only hope you have now. Thank you... and godspeed." 

Those would be the final words they would ever hear the peaceful Vava say. In a brilliant flash of light, the reformed reploid's body was encased in a beautiful golden aura, illuminating the entire room. Then, a quickly as it had begun, the light faded and eventually vanished; he was gone. Suddenly, the room delved into a deep, solemn silence; all three seemed to be in an awkward state of meditation, asif they were contemplating exactly what had just taken place right before their very eyes. 

"V... Vile... Vava..." X unconsciously found himself repeating, a look of loss on his face. For some reason, a feeling of guilt was spreading inside of him, a guilt that had become all too familiar in the passing years... 

"Ugh... alright, guys," Zero began snapping everybody back to attention. "You guys... remember what he said, right? There's an underground river here... it's the only chance we have to escape. I say that we get our asses downstairs before Vava destroys us with this godforsaken building..." 

"Yeah, I gotcha," Glacier agreed, even he sounding a bit on the shocked and depressed side. "I'll... go get Magma, and then we'll leave." 

"That's probably best..." X chimed in, who was still completely shocked by what Vile had done. "Let's... get going. I'm starting to feel less and less comfortable in here by the second." 

* * *

Dynamo stood still, completely stunned by what he had just witnessed. He'd seen everything... OmegaVile's pinning of X, Glacier's intervention, the reincarnation of 'Vava', the attack on Sigma, and Vava's parting words... it was creepy as hell, all of it. Creepy as hell. 

_So... the plastic soldier boy is going to _destroy_ himself now, for the sake of the world?_ he thought with a mental chuckle. _Jesus, will the wonders EVER cease in this wretch of a building?_

But there was no more time for mental pondering... he needed to get the hell out of that building, and fast. And he knew exactly how to do it, too, without using the cheap and inconvenient method that Vava had so ungratefully bequeathed to his new best friends. There was a different method of teleportation - one that only few reploids could use, and that was completely undetectable by the building's security - that was taught to him by the not-so-useless Mercutio way back when. He'd enjoy leaving the Maverick forces, finally... man, how he'd enjoy it. Everything was laid out in stone for him... he'd escape the fortress, travel through the desert, yadda yadda yadda, he'd become the world's most powerful warrior. Or something along those lines. 

Moving as stealthily as possible, the renegade mercenary entered the abandoned third floor lobby, scarred and scorched from the battle that had taken place seemingly moments before. X, Zero, and Glacier had already escaped through the elevator shaft by now, and were definitely well on their way towards freedom. Well, whoop-de-frickin'-do, good for them. As he approached the middle of the room, he stopped himself, relaxing his muscles and letting his mind escape him... ahh, just like good 'ol Mercush taught him to. He was just about to fade away in a cloud of white aura, to leave that hellhole of a building behind, when he felt something forcefully tugging at his leg. 

"Please... PLEASE..." a voice called from below, one that sounded vaguely familiar. "You, whoever you are... get me... out of here!..." 

"...well well, herring on a stick, it's YOU," Dynamo said with smug disbelief, staring down at the owner of the voice. Clinging onto his left leg was none other than Grand Commander Sigma himself, battered and beaten. His body was fully encased in some kind of electrical barrier, and his right arm seemed to have been cut clean off - his left arm, which was clinging onto him at that very moment, was the only arm he had left. He looked horribly distressed and injured, like he had just taken a three-week vacation to Hell and had somehow lived to tell the tale. 

"Please, PLEASE! You have to help me, somehow..." the pitiful Maverick groveled, clasping onto Dynamo's leg with all of his might. "Please, if I stay here... I'll be obliterated!" 

"Oh, and why do you expect _me_ to care?!" Dynamo almost shouted, sounding completely irritated by this display. "If you were obliterated in this place, it would definitely be a weight off of my shoulders, believe you me. I'm getting the hell out of here, and if you end up dying in here, well... tough titty, said the kitty." 

"NO! PLEASE!!" Sigma screamed, looking as if he were about to break out into tears. "Please! You don't understand... I don't deserve to die like this, I don't! NOBODY deserves something like this, ESPECIALLY NOT ME!!!" He moaned, grunted, feigning a bit of his pain. "Please, PLEASE... just let me live... this one time..." 

_Damnit... why won't he just stay here, die, and leave me alone?!_ Dynamo mentally cursed, his sense of pride fighting with a new, awkward feeling that he never enjoyed - pity. Sure, he hated Sigma's pathetic guts, but just watching him like this... it was so utterly saddening to watch, even if it was one of the people he disliked the most in this world. His mind began to form a compromise... _damnit, why am I ALWAYS put into situations like this?!_

"Alright, FINE!" Dynamo exclaimed angrily, feeling deep down inside that he would live to regret this action. "But you're gonna OWE ME for this." 

"Yes... YES!" Sigma responded, bowing in mercy to his new reploid savior. "Thank you... THANK YOU... I will never forget you for this, believe me!..." 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Dynamo muttered in annoyance. "Just shut up and sit tight for a second, will ya? This'll only take a second." 

And Sigma did just that. With a quick flick of the wrist, Dynamo destroyed the electrical barrier surrounding the Maverick Master, just so that he wouldn't have to deal with any unneeded electrocution. Then, placing a hand on the fallen Sigma's shoulder, he summoned that same wave of white aura. Soon enough, the two were engulfed with the foreign white mist, leaving the decaying edifice forever. 

* * *

_This... is it. This is everything that I've wanted to do... this is the end._

Vava stared at the panel of controls. The monitors were fully functional, but the room was completely barren, devoid of life; it seemed as if some of the more prominent Mavericks had escaped. He watched the monitors intently... most of the rooms left in the fortress were totally emptied, with a great deal of Mavericks bunched up and trapped in the other side of the second floor. 

_I can tell... there are some of them who don't deserve death. But... this must be done. For the sake of the world..._

He could still feel it; the monster inside of him, still struggling incessantly to break free of its suppression. OmegaVile was still alive... and it wouldn't take much for him to break free once again. 

_No... I'm NOT going to allow that. I'll destroy him. I don't care if I die as well... as long as the world remains safe. X, Zero, Glaicer... I think they're nearing the exit..._

Yes... they'd make it out alive. Finally ready to pay the ultimate price, he placed an open palm on the controls, felt the heat rising within his entire body. Though it wasn't completely apparent from the outside, he was activating a self-destruction sequence internally, allowing his entire body transform itself into one reploid-sized bomb, ready to ignite into one colossal explosion. As the heat began to engulf him, and he could feel his body begin to be taken to the great beyond, he caught one last glimpse of the three living Hunters in the building. And he had his final thoughts. 

_X... Zero... Glaicer..._

_Don't worry about me anymore. I know what I'm doing... my redemption... will save and benefit everyone, even if they don't realize it..._

_The monster inside of me is dead, forevermore... I accomplished everything that I've needed to in life..._

_So... I extend my greatest thanks to you... for your help in showing me the way. I know that the years to follow may not be easy... but somehow, I know that you'll perservere._

_Again... thank you, all of you. I wish you... the best._

* * *

X stared readily down into the rushing waters, the blackness of the poisonous pool of filth. So, this was it... this was the only way to get out of this place. How lover-ly. 

"Alright, guys," Zero called to Glacier and X, both of which who stood with him on the edge of a first floor cliff-like structure. Below it was the 'fabled' underground river, extending long and stretching out wide. "All of you ready for the jump? Glacier, you got Magma strapped to ya tight?" 

"Yeah, he ain't goin' nowhere," Glacier hastily replied, with his comatose brother kept in a firm grasp over his shoulder. 

"Alright then, let's do this thang," Zero finalized, staring back down to the water. "Okay, on the count of three! One... two... THREE...!" 

And just like that, all three Hunters jumped off in unison, the wind rushing through them like a turbulent tornado. They held their breath and shut their eyes tight as they plunged into the murky depths, the cold, polluted liquid rushing through their veins, and their world became darkness... 


	28. Epilouge

**Epilouge**

* * *

Ex-Hunter General Wiedl stared in awe at the field that had been laid out before him, standing atop a large hill. It was a magnificent, beautiful sight to behold; a stream of the greenest grass he had ever seen in his life spread far into the horizon, adorned with an array of brilliantly colored flowers that illumated the tranquil scene. The sky, bearing the purest shade of blue imaginable, was adorned with distinct white clouds that formed innumerable shapes and sizes. Mighty oak trees lined the far sides, their leaves the most beautiful he had ever seen. If he could have a guess at it, he would probably bet that he had somehow stumbled upon Eden itself. 

He didn't waste any time. Summoning up as much energy as possible, the burly reploid sprinted gleefully down the steep, grassy incline, letting the wind rush through him like a gale. When he finally reached the leveled-out valley, he almost felt weightless as he frolicked carelessly in the abounding multicolor flowers. After doing such frolicking for Lord knows how long, he laid himself down to rest beneath the flower bed, letting the calmness of the entire place soothe him. Now he was free, now every day would be his own, he thought as he let the tranquility send him to bliss... 

...that is, until a very familiar sound echoed throughout the land. 

"Wiedl..." it sounded, causing the flowers surrounding him to rustle and vibrate. It was a voice, one that while sounding calm and reasonable also had an ominous quality to it. Wiedl poked his head out of his resting spot to search for the bearer of the voice, but was a bit surprised to see nobody there. Then, only after a few moments, the cry was heard again, only about ten times more powerful than before: "WIEDL!!!" 

Before he could attain a grasp on exactly what was happening to him, the giant Hunter was immediately swept off of his feet, being pushed back far beyond the green grass, the majestically beautiful flowers, the pure blue sky, the solid and never stirring oaks. A powerful wind was carrying him, one so strong that it carried his body beyond the sky and into a sea of darkness. Wiedl yelped in fright as he fell flat on his back, staring into nothingness as his mind began to lead him to another land... 

He awoke abruptly, lifting his head slowly up from its resting place. He could feel his large arms being pressed against a desk he was seated at, forming a small ring around the area where his head had previously been dormant. His eyes were groggy, weak; he slowly forced them open, only to be met with excessive blurs and faded circles all around him. Yawning a bit and wiping his eyes, his vision sensors could now clearly see that he was back in his office, slouching on his desk... back in the real world again. 

"Wiedl...!" he heard the voice calling again. "Wiedl, are you there?! Pick up, Wiedl!" 

Now slowly but surely returning to his senses, the tired ex-general was now able to recognize exactly where that mysterious voice had been coming from. Glancing to his left, he eyed a small black box-type object sitting next to his computer, with a little red light consistently blinking on and off. The speaker phone. 

"Wiedl! I'm beginning to lose my patience with you! Wied-" 

"I'M HERE," the reploid replied to the voice, pressing a button down on th machine so that his voice could be heard on the other end. "I'm here... Doctor Cain. Sorry about the delay there." 

"'Sorry', you say... yeesh," Cain muttered, the frustration rising in his voice. "Do you realize how long I've been trying to get in contact with you? My lungs feel sore, to say the least. Just what the blazes have you been DOING in that little basement room of yours?" 

Wiedl raised his metallic eyebrows, unsure of exactly how to tackle that question. "Well, you see, Doc..." Wiedl began, his classic eccentric smile spreading across his face. "It's the damndest thing, really. Y'see, I believe it was only a few hours ago that I came back down to the office. I was a little bushed, to say the least, so I found it an opportune time to take a brisk nap. I had a great dream, Doc. I was in a beautiful field, surrounded with magnificent flowers, mighty trees, a perfect atmosphere... man, I wish you could've seen it." 

"Well, that's all _very_ nice to hear, Wiedl," Dr. Cain replied with little amusement. "But just to let you know, while you've been sleeping, we've been UNDER A FRACKIN' STATE OF EMERGENCY HERE. I need you to get upstairs to the surveillance area RIGHT NOW. I would say that there have been some major developments, but that would be something of an understatement." 

"Aha... understood, Doc-O!" Wiedl announced, character returning to his previously worn out voice. "I'll be up in a jiff. Don't you worry, you can always count on me!" 

"Yes, well..." Cain said sighing a bit. "Please hurry up. I'm not sure how much time we have right now." 

"Gotcha," Wiedl confirmed, releasing the button and thus ending the transmission. Stretching his arms back to loosen up his tensed joints, he pondered the meaning of what Cain had implied. _'Major developments an understatement', he says... well, this one aughta be interesting to hear about._

Yawning a bit, the now anxious reploid rose to his feet once again, brushing himself off and heading towards the large door that led straight to a series of stairways. As he ambled out of his personal sanctuary, his mind once again displayed to him his beautiful dream in the field, and the kind of freedoms and joys he had felt there. He let out a mournful sigh as his large metallic boots clanged against the cold steel of the stairway. 

_Meh... I never get a break, do I?_

* * *

The internationally renowned Dr. Cain stared listlessly at his computer monitor, hoping for some kind of important development to take place before it was too late. He'd been at this very computer for an extensive amount of time; exactly how much time, he didn't exactly know. He predicted for sure, however, that it had already been over a period of five full hours... yes, he didn't doubt that one bit. 

The MHHQ's surveillance room was somewhat large, with computers and security monitors taking up almost all of its space and limiting general mobility quite a bit. Most of the television monitors were planted onto the room's large walls, which were usually used to keep the entire building in check. The computers, which were placed onto long rectangular desks and were all arranged into seperate columns throughout the room, were mostly used to monitor activities occuring outside of the HQ; and of course, in this case, they were being used to keep track of the desert fortress that the Hunters had been raiding. Unlike some areas of the building, the security area was usually filled with experienced Hunter employees who were actually very devoted and skilled at their jobs... though there _would_ be some times were some random slacker would be caught using his monitor to watch reruns of some obscure show. 

But at this time, there was absolutely no slacking off whatsoever; everybody in that room, even those who never usually worked much at all in the past, had been working their butts off in trying to keep track of the Hunters' progress in the desert. It had been Dr. Cain, however, who had been working the most out of all of them - not only had he been making sure that everyone else in the room were doing their duties, but he'd also been watching his Hunters' activities since the moment they had been beamed into the middle of that sandy wasteland. And these new, shocking developments that he'd just seen right before his eyes... well, they helped affirm his belief that he was getting too old for this job. 

"Weedo, zoom in at point 1800F77, right quadrant," he ordered calmly through a jet-black minicomm he held in his hand. The comm was actually linked directly to the highly skilled spyderoid Weedo, the spiderlike creature that served as Wiedl's pet, and who Cain had been using to consistently survey the fortress from a secluded point in the desert. However, the structure could hardly be called a 'fortress' at this point; only about two hours earlier, the entire place had suddenly come crashing down to the ground in an enormous flash of light that had almost blinded everybody watching the event. After the light had cleared, all that was left of the once majestic fortress was a large massing of torn, shattered ruins, with an abundance of smoke rising from the rubble. Luckily, thanks to the craftiness of their Unit leaders, almost every Hunter had already made it back to the building without as much as a scratch, including the aerial and desert units. The primary problem at hand, however, was the fact that several prominent reploids - X, Zero, Glacier and Magma Dragoon, and even Vile - had suddenly dissapeared since the explosion, just like that, without any sign of them on his energy scanner. Even since this realization, he'd been thrown into a fit of worry, praying with all of his being that these elites hadn't been destroyed with the rest of the building. 

"Hmm... no, there doesn't seem to be anybody else..." Cain noted to himself, still scanning the rubble for any remaining soldiers. He'd figured that, while the Hunters really hadn't suffered any casualties, the Mavericks (he now knew they were Mavericks from the soldiers' reports) may have lost much more than they had. Though there was little evidence to really prove this belief, Cain had managed to find various pieces of scrap metal amongst the smoking rubble, which seemed to have been previously part of a reploid of some kind; but then again, it could have really been anything. Due to Weedo's secluded viewpoint, it was very hard for the elderly doctor to get an accurate picture of exactly what was happening in that desert... but he could feel his gut telling him that somebody had fallen, somebody very important and innocent had lost their life in that building... 

But Cain wasn't be able to ponder this feeling much longer. A loud, painfully familiar clanking of large boots were quick to greet his ears from the other side of the room, a noise that soon became louder and louder as it approached him. It only took about a second for Cain to figure out who the birther of the noise was; glancing briefly to his right and lifting his head, he found himself staring straight into the goofy, smiling face of ex-general Wiedl, who seemed to be having some trouble maneuvering his bulky body through the overly-narrow row. After forcing the table left of him to shift forward a bit and almost knocking a few workers to the ground, he finally managed to reach the doctor's computer, offering a brief and prideful salute. 

"Ahh, Wiedl," Cain said with a bit of a smile. "Glad to see you here. Hope you didn't run into too much trouble on your way up." 

"Oh, there wasn't any trouble sir," Wiedl voiced with unbridled enthusiasm. "I'm here, on time, and ready. Just like you told me to be. See, I'm a responsible guy, Doc. When I'm called to do something important or be somewhere as soon as possible, I'm very dynamic in getting my tasks done efficiently..." 

"Yes, yes..." Cain interrupted, raising his eyebrows. "We're all aware of your abounding 'efficiency', Wiedl, and I'm glad to hear that you're asserting yourself and whatnot. I would've preferred you up here earlier, but let's forget about that. Maybe we should start focusing in on why I called you up here. Sound kosher?" 

"Oh, yes, of course!" Wiedl agreed, eagerly nodding his head up and down like an overexcited puppy dog. "Sorry about my digression, doctor, but I'm just very curious about these developments you told me about earlier. I figure it has something to do with that big desert fortress, is that right?" 

"Oooh, excellent assumption, Wiedl," Cain said with a hint of sarcasm. "I guess owe you a toffee. Anyway, yes, it _definitely_ has to do with the desert fortress, and it's _definitely_ a major development. Y'see, what happened is... err... well, maybe you should take a look for yourself. I'd be wasting my breath trying to word it correctly." 

"Oh... alright, then," Wiedl gave in, taking a glance at the computer screen Cain had been seated in front of all this time. It only took a few moments for the hulking reploid's eyes to double in size and his mouth to hang agape; the sight had come as a complete surprise to him. Rubble, smoking, jagged and large rubble, was all over the screen... it was just one massive image of ruins, ones that could have possibly been the remains of a formerly large building. 

"Wha-uhh..." Wiedl stuttered, practically unable to speak. "That's... is that the desert..." 

"...fortress? Ayup," Cain finished for him, somewhat amused at Wiedl's reaction. "Or at least, this is what's left of it. In case you didn't realize it yet, that fortress was actually Maverick territory, as was reported by some of our retreating soldiers. Approximately two and a half hours ago, that entire building suddenly exploded in a flash of light, bringing the entire place crashing to the ground. Surprised all of us. Here, let me show you..." He grabbed his black comm. "Hey, Weedo. I need you to play me the recording from about two hours and twenty-seven minutes ago. Just need to show Wiedl a little something." 

After a few beeps of confirmation from the other end, another window hurriedly popped up on the computer screen, this one displaying the Maverick fortress in all its apparent glory. Then, after only about a few seconds, a few large beams of light could be seen shooting out of the windows, mostly coming from the windows. As the beams became larger and multiplied in size, the vision of the building became so illuminated that it was almost impossible to get a good view of it. Finally, an extremely audible explosion sounded, causing the entire screen to go temporarily white and prompting Wiedl and Cain to briefly shield their eyes. When the light finally began to tone down and the once majestic edifice was once again in view, Wiedl watched in distinct awe as the entire structure came crashing violently to the ground, kicking up smoke and quickly setting aflame. Soon enough, the rubble settled to the desert floor, smoke still rising and fire covering the entire area. 

"Oh... oh my," Wiedl uttered, his face still displaying unyiedling shock. "That was... a dilly of a pickle, yes. Umm... if you don't mind me asking, exactly HOW did this happen?" 

"That's what we've been trying to figure out," Cain said sternly, closing the computer window. "I have a few suppositions, but they're simply simply speculation, nothing more. We really can't find any evidence as to what caused this explosion..." 

"Ya-huh..." Wiedl agreed, furrowing his brow. "But, uh, what about the Hunters? How many were killed from that giant... _thing_?!" 

"Well, no Hunters were killed, to our knowledge," Cain stated, his voice taking a much more serious tone. "Maverick-wise, we have no idea who survived, except for Violen who escaped the captivity of our Hunters and went running off into the desert somewhere. The only Hunters that aren't accounted for are..." He paused for a moment, letting out a sigh. "...X, Zero, Glacier, and Magma, unfortunately. Glacier's friend Icarus told us that Glacier had ran in after the other three, so... well, he obviously got involved in what was going on in there. I'm praying that they're alive and well, but... well, we haven't heard anything from them, not at all. We're hoping that, somehow, they avoided the blast, but... we just don't know." 

"Oh..." Wiedl said, his voice lowering in tone a bit. "Well, uhh... geez, I didn't know that the situation was THAT serious. Bad things always seem to happen while I'm asleep... maybe I should lay off those naps, eh, doc?" 

"Yeah, well..." Cain said with a shrug, partially ignoring Wiedl's dry humor. "We're trying to remain hopeful. It's only been a couple of hours, so Lord knows what could be hindering them now." 

"And... what about Vile?" Wiedl suddenly remembered to ask, perplexed that he had forgotten to do so in the first place. "He alive, or is he in the same position as the other Hunters?" 

"Oh... well, there's a complete mystery," Cain commented, the memories of Vile suddenly coming back into focus. "We sensed him in the building, his power still entirely intact. I'm not sure if he and the Hunters had a confrontation or not, but... well, there's a good chance of it, considering that he _was_ captured by Mavericks. They could have converted him, they could've not had the chance... who knows. But he, as well as the Hunters, has dissappeared from our scanner." 

"Ahh... I'm getting it now," Wiedl replied with downed enthusiasm, not feeling as energetic as he usually felt after hearing Cain's cryptic news. The Hunters were lost now? Could they have been fried in that explosion? For a fleeting moment, he actually felt a strong sense of sympathy for his mentor, considering all of the stress and worry that he had been forced through in the previous hours. If only there was something he could do to help out... 

"Dr. Cain, sir!" called an energetic voice from Cain and Wiedl's left, breaking both of their mental concentration. Both turned swiftly to face a young, red-haired male human with a thin build and a bit of painfully recognizable acne. He was breathing a bit heavily, holding a few matted pieces of paper in his greasy hands. 

"Ahh, Guterson," Cain called back, addressing the human properly by his last name. "Looks like you've got some news for me." 

"Damn straight," Guterson replied vociferously, making it obvious that the message he was delivering was of high importance. "Seems like we've had a stroke of luck, sir. Some strong energy signals have been located very close to the outskirts of the town, seemingly coming from an underground location. Good news is, we've managed to identify them pretty easily - X, Zero, and Glacier Dragoon." 

"X, Zero, and Glacier..." Cain whispered softly to himself, a small smile of reassurance beginning to form on his face. "Well... thank heavens they're alright. But wait a second..." His expression changed from one of jubilance to one of concern. "So you're saying that you've discovered only three energy signals? Are there any more?" 

"Well..." The young human ruffled a hand through his hair, as if thinking for a moment. "There _is_ another energy signal, bit it's kind of on the faint side, and was barely detected by our sensors. We believe that it might be an injured soldier, but... well, we really can't tell." 

"Hmm... I see what you mean," Cain thoughtfully agreed, running his fingers through his ruffled, greyish beard. "Have you been able to open up any kind of communication with the three of them?" 

"Well, we're trying, sir," Guterson replied, "but it actually seems like they're still underground, so our communications are kind of blocked out. They're approaching the surface at an extremely rapid rate, though, so I figure that it won't be much longer before we can open up a link." 

"Ahh, good, good..." Cain repeated to himself, feeling an awkward mix of relief and worry. "Alright, then, Guterson. I'll let you lead me to where you've managed to locate the three. I'd like to try and talk with them as soon as possible. Hopefully, they'll all be safe..." He shifted his view to where Wiedl was still listening in silence, taking sporatic sippings of a coffee cup he got from Lord-knows-where. "Wiedl, I'd like you to keep an eye on the Maverick fortress while I'm gone. I'm not quite sure how long I'll be away, but believe me, I'll let you in on everything that's going on the moment we've gotten these matters straightened out." 

"Yessir, Doc!" Wiedl exclaimed with zeal. "You can count on me, ayup. Oh, and don't worry about those Hunters. Trust me, I'm sure that they were prepared for a situation like this. I mean, before this whole thing started up, I passed on to them some of my sagest advice on battle that I have. They're all a bunch of good listeners, Cain, and that's why they're elites! They've probably pulled through alright." He gave a nod of confidence, followed by another goofy smile. "So best of luck to ya, Doc. But believe me, you shouldn't have any worries." 

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure I won't," Cain muttered somewhat apathetically, grabbing his walking stick and gradually lifting himself up to meet his human subordinate. "I'll see you in a bit, Wiedl. Make sure things run as smoothly as possible. I'm hoping this won't take too long." 

"Of course... let's all just hope those recruits didn't get themselves fried! That wouldn't be a great development, now would it?" Wiedl barked out with a chuckle, displaying a bit of unnatural - and generally unwelcomed - glee. Luckily, the overly-ardent Hunter assistant wasn't able to see the look of complete embarrassment that spread over the doctor's face as he and Guterson headed out of the room. 

* * *

Samantha Wesson, a stout, middle-aged woman with reddish hair and a somewhat surly disposition, enjoyed to eat her meals in complete tranquility. Sure, the city was nice, she figured, but she hated all of the bustle and noise that it had the annoying tendency to produce almost all of the time. So, in order to receive full enjoyment in her meals, she usually headed all the way to the secluded outskirts of Terencse City, a place that the townspeople rarely visited. The area consisted of only a few abandoned warehouses, a small paved street, and more noticably, a large, emptied desert just beyond the city border, partially hidden by a scarce amount of trees. It was probably the only area in town that was completely silent at all hours of the day, and also had a very serene view to boot - no doubt the perfect spot to eat in peace, alone, undisturbed. 

But, unfortunately for Samantha, the sanctuary she had loved to escape to for so many years was being shattered right before her very eyes. The pudgy woman had been enjoying a delicious double-cheeseburger with extra ketchup when audible clanging, clomping, and snapping noises could be heard throughout the entire area, forcing Samantha to freeze into a frightened position. Remaining at her tiny bench seat and taking a brief look around, she noticed that the sound couldn't be coming from the surface, as there seemed to be nobody in sight for miles and miles; as the noises began to get louder, she soon came to the conclusion that the ruckus could only be coming from beneath her. Then, after only a minute or so, the noises became so distinct that she could even hear some voices sounding from deep below: 

"Hey guys, can you see any light yet?" one voice called. 

"Yeah, I think we've reached an entrance back to the city..." said another, deeper voice. "Look, a ladder. C'mon, just follow me up." 

"Hey, easier said than done!" whined a third voice, coming from far below. "You guys can climb, but my hands are kind of full down here..." 

"Don't worry about it, Glaish. We'll help you out... OWW!! My face! Hey, Zero, would you watch your gosforsaken feet?!" 

"Oh, stop complaining. I'm not in a desirable position here to begin with, X, and if I shift myself too much I might just end up losing my precious grip. You'll just have to deal with it until we reach the surface..." 

"Guh, I'll give ya a 'precious...'" 

"Guys, could we keep the bickering to a minimum until we get the hell outta here, please? This smell is gonna strike me dead..." 

These voices continued to chatter on over time, becoming louder and louder as the three individuals approached the Earth's crust at an alarming rate. Samantha soon watched in utter horror as a sewer cap, which had been resting peacefully in the middle of the deserted road for quite a while, began to shake and twitch violently, the force so strong that it caused a small bit of ground around the cap to vibrate along with it. Soon enough, the cap was jarred free of its predictedly eternal resting space and was carelessly shoved to the side, revealing the large circular street cavity that served as one of the town's many entrances to the sewers. The woman, failing to take notice of the greasy beef patty slowly slipping out of her burger and falling to the ground, sat with terrified eyes as several... _things_... slowly crawled out of the polluted hole of filth, very rapidly rising to their feet and facing the woman. There would be three of them in total, three of the most disgusting creatures Samantha had ever laid eyes on; it almost appeared as if they were some class of sludge monsters, as the trio was completely covered with a greenish-brown filth of some kind. Soon enough, one of the creatures directed its gaze right at her, its eyes barely visible. 

Samantha couldn't move; the utter fright brought upon by the situation as forced her body to go completely rigid. Her mouth hung agape as the tall creature, the sludge dripping heavily off of his body, began to approach her position, taking very cautious steps. Soon enough, the thing was only a few feet away from her, the smell of the creatures smell hitting her like a turbulent gale. She went totally pale as the creature extended an arm straight at her. 

"Ermm... good afternoon, miss," the thing voiced raspily, a huge glob of sludge from his extended arm plopping to the ground as he spoke. "We've been in the sewers for a pretty long time, and we're not quite sure where we are. Would you mind..." 

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU DISGUSTING BAG OF SEWER SCUM!!" Samantha shouted as loudly as was humanly possible, right into the creature's face. Before the monster could retort this, the husky female threw her meal to the ground and darted off in fright, her legs pumping as hard as they could. She screamed the entire way, and soon enough, she'd dissappeared over the horizon, her voice still painfully audible. The sludge-covered creature stood completely still, confused at the woman's brash response. 

"Huh..." it said, scratching its head in bewilderment. "Well, she seemed a little... edgy. What possibly could've scared here _that_ much? I was just tryin' to be friendly." 

"Well, Zero," addressed one of the other figures behind him. "Maybe it's because you covered in about ten gallons of rancid grease, filth, and slime. And, for some reason, you decided against cleaning yourself off first. But hey, what do I know." 

"...no kidding?" The 'friendly' creature named Zero paused for a moment, checking his body up and down. It was true; all this time, he'd been lined with a seemingly unlimited amount of slime from his trip into the sewers, and wiping it off of himself had not even crossed his mind. Shrugging to himself a bit, he reached his hands to his neck and began to pull of a large, pointy object that had been concealing most of his head. When it was off, a normal humanoid face was revealed, with a long stream of golden hair covering its top (which was now almost completely greased up). Zero wiped his blueish eyes a bit, so that he could clear up his previously foggy vision. "Wow. I guess that sewer really did a number on us, eh?" 

"Excellent observation," commented the other 'creature', who had done exactly what his friend had by taking his own helmet off. His jet-black hair appeared extremely matted a dirty, with slime still dripping off of its sides. The humanoid being wiped his hands though the tangled mess, only to have his hands mucked up more than a little. "Ick... disgusting. I can honestly say that that was one of the most friggin' traumatizing experiences of my ENTIRE LIFE. I thought things were gonna calm down after we got dumped into the toxic waste... but NOOO, then we have to have a nice dip into the Manure Pool of Fun and Jubilance. Fer Chrissakes..." 

"Yeah, I admit that things got pretty rough back there," the third greased-up reploid chimed in, wiping the black substance off of his face and revealing a long dragonlike snout and a blueish-tinted face. It appeared that he was carrying a second figure of similar build on his shoulder, who was also covered with the vile substance. "But hey, I'm almost happy that we went through with it. I mean, we made it out of that hellhole alive, didn't we?" 

"Huh. Barely," Zero commented with little enthusiasm, trying to get off as much filth off of his body as he possibly could. "But you're right, Glaish. That was completely disgusting in every way comprehendable by Man, but it got us the hell away from that explosion." He squinted over to the desert horizon, noticing a small blackened area far beyond their standpoint. He widened his eyes. "I'm still kind of shocked that we made it this far, to be totally honest. I mean, that explosion was big. _Really_ big. We really weren't too far off when it happened... I mean, yeesh. Makes ya think." 

"True," Glacier agreed. "I'm guessing that Vile... or Vava, whatever you called him... knew what he was talking about." 

The blackhaired soldier, X, couldn't help but cringe at what Glacier had said. Vava... he'd almost forgotten about him, due to all of the hubbub stemming from the sewers. He pouted a bit at the thought, remembering the immense guilt he had been feeling the moment Vava teleported from them in a flash of golden light. So... he DID finally go through with it. Vava was gone, gone forever, and there was nothing that anybody could do about it. This revelation prompted X to remember an addage that had been thrown around constantly over the years: _Life's a bitch._

"Yeah. I'm still surprised that he did what he did, but..." Zero continued, his voice trailing off as he also began to remember Vava's final words. Before he could dwell on him much longer, however, a very faint yet distinctly familiar beeping noise began to sound through the crisp afternoon air. The Crimson Hunter, almost immediately realizing what the sound indicated, reached for his belt and pulled out what at first appeared to be another giant glob of sludge. However, as Zero wiped the thick layer of disease off of the object, it turned out to be a black, rectange-shaped device, with a few buttons at the bottom and a large reddish orb placed in the middle. The beeping sound was now extremely audible, and the red orb was blinking consistently. 

"Well, I'll be damned," Zero muttered in complete disbelief, utterly transfixed at the sight. "And here I was, thinking that these communicators were the epitomes of useless crapola. I'm speechless... I am WITHOUT speech." 

"Alright, alright, just ANSWER it already!" Glacier shouted in anticipation. "It's probably somebody important!" 

"I know, I know, I know..." Zero repeated, rolling his eyes. "Patience is a friggin' virtue, ya know." Dropping the subject, he pressed the button in the bottom-middle, which enabled the transmission. "Yellow!" he started with a mocking voice. "This is Zer-O, and you've entered the PHONE ZONE! Leave your name and number..." 

"ZERO!" exclaimed the receiver at the other end, having an extremely familiar voice. "Zero! Is that you...?" 

"Hey hey hey, Doc!" Zero replied wih enthusiasm, a relieved smile forming on his face. He glanced briefly over to Glacier and X, who were also looking somewhat less unnerved. "Jeez, it's good to hear your voice again, sir." 

"Likewise," Cain responed with obvious joy. "You wouldn't believe how stressed out I've been since I caught sight of that fortress exploding. Tell me, is everyone alright? Any major injuries...?" 

"Nah, don't worry, we're all alive and basically well," Zero assured him, glancing at X and Glacier, who were still severely mucked-up. "X, Glacier, Magma and I are kind of mucked up, though. Y'see, we've been trudging through sewer sludge for Jeebus knows how long..." 

"Magma's there?" Cain said questionably. "Is he alright? I'm only getting energy signals from you, X, and Glacier... there's a fourth one, but it's very faint. Would that happen to be him?" 

Zero made a quick glance to Magma's fallen body, which Glacier had placed limply to the ground. Though he was covered in innumerable filth stains and didn't look the least bit happy, he was certainly alive, just in a mode of stasis. To the inexperienced eye, it might have appeared to them that he was dead as a doornail; but the Hunters, with their basic combat skill, were good in detecting a reploid's stasis when they saw it. 

"...yeah. That's probably him," Zero confirmed. "He's alive, but to put things bluntly, he's not in the greatest of conditions. He ran into a bit of a spill as we were fighting the Mavericks, and... well, he got some pretty nasty injuries. He's been in a state of unconsciousness since we escaped the fortress." 

"Oh... I see," Cain replied understandably. "But, out of curiosity, why is it that Magma was injured and completely knocked out of commission, while the three of you fared much better in the long run?" 

"Uhh, well.. err..." The Crimson Hunter glanced back over to Glacier, who stared at Zero with an expression of nervousness and anxiety on his face. If Zero tattled on Magma's actions, then things would certainly not be easy for Glacier and his brother when they got back to the HQ. But then again, what Magma had done was extremely out of line, and it wasn't very easy to trust him after a stunt like that... could he blatantly lie to save his hide? 

Apparently so. "Well, doc, he just got caught up in the moment, y'see," Zero explained, fibbing through his synthetic teeth. "We were fighting Vile and Sigma, all together, and Magma got riled up a bit and attacked. Vile was too much for him, though, and he was taken down a bit too easily..." 

"Okay, whoa whoa whoa..." Cain interrupted. "Back things up for me, Zero. Before you get into the fight, I'd like you to start things from the beginning. From the time you got into the building, to when you escaped. Just summarize." 

"Hmm... the beginning, eh?" Zero took in a very deep breath; he was going to need it. "Alright then, doc. You deserve to know what's been going on lately. When we arrived at the building, we obviously had no idea that the place was infested with Mavericks until we heard Sigma's voice on the intercom. The soldiers eventually retreated, however, since their weapons were useless. So, when we reached the second floor, we spontaneously ran into Violen..." 

X and Glacier listened dilligently as the leader of the Elite Unit Zero explained basically everything that had occured during their 'visit' to the fortress, from their run-in with Violen, to Vile's return to evil, to Magma's attack (omitting as much as possible), to X and Zero's seperate battles with Vile and Sigma, all the way up to Glacier driving his foot into OmegaVile's head and returning him to his senses. Cain was completely speechless as Zero finished up his speech, explaining all of 'Vava''s final actions and his ultimate demise. 

"...so Vava then told us about a secret passageway out of the fortress, through an underground river in the building," Zero continued to conclude. "We managed to get out of there easily enough, but Vava stayed and destroyed himself inside of the fortress's control deck. Thr resulting explosion obliterated not only Vava, but everybody and everything in that building as well. We barely managed to avoid the explosion, and after trekking through the sewers for hours, we managed to reached the surface here. And, well... here we are." 

A solemn pause followed; it almost seemed as if Cain were unable to say anything more. Zero was about to ask his superior if he was still alive when an astounded voice broke the silence apart. 

"...wow," the doctor said with awe, still taking in everything that the Hunter had just told him. "That's... well, to be honest, I really don't know what to think right now. So you're saying that Vile reverted back to his original form, somehow... and he made peace with all of you? That's just... well, I honestly find it hard to believe." 

"Well, to be honest with ya, we all thought it was just a hoax, at first," Zero admitted, scratching his dirtied scalp. "But eventually, well... when I think about it now, he really, _really_ did seem genuinely good back there. As I remember, he instructed us to tell you how happy he was that he'd finally reverted back to the reploid you had always wanted him to be, before he died." 

"Yes, well..." Cain continued, his voice sounding a bit somber. "When I created Vava way back before the first uprising came into full swing, I had always intended him to be both a very devoted peacekeeper, as well as an ardent and powerful fighter when need be. He would be a very dilligent and useful ally in combat, as well as one who might help break the animosity between humans and machines. But when he became the overly-violent psychopath that we have known him to be over the years, my hopes of him ever becoming that dream reploid I had always imagined him to be dwindled to nothing. However, I knew, deep down, that the purity I'd wanted him to have hadn't been destroyed completely, and that one day he may somehow turn back to who he used to be. And now, well... I never expected him to go to such great lengths for us, considering his background. To be honest, it's good to know that my efforts weren't completely in vain..." 

There was something of a lengthy, solemn pause. X, Zero, and Glacier were all reflecting on Cain's words, as if their mindsets had suddenly been reverted back to that fortress, that third-story lobby, where Vava had given his last parting words. Cain's voice, however, broke the silence very quickly. "Alright then, everyone... I just have a few more things to say, and I'd like all three of you to listen in. X, Glacier, can the two of you hear me?" 

"Yeah, we hear ya, doc," X said somewhat casually, trying his best to mask his partial depression. "You can go ahead." 

"Good. Okay now, listen..." Cain began, clearing his throat a bit. "I know that now is not the time for me to be lecturing the three of you, but according to these developments, I feel that there are some things that I need to get out in the open. Regarding Vava... well, though his actions may have seemed a little brash at first thought, the service he has done for the Hunters - and the human race as a whole - has been invaluable, to say the least. Basically, the blow he has dealt upon the Mavericks, including Sigma, is a wound that will not heal very quickly, if ever. They lost almost all of their resources in that explosion, and it will be very difficult for them to form their ranks again anytime in the future. But..." He inhaled a deep breath. "...it goes beyond the fortress. Vava, as good-natured as he might have seemed, obviously had a fatal flaw in his systems that could have very well spelt the ultimate end of the human race... or even the end of everything, reploids included. The fact that he was ready and willing to give up his own life for the Earth's future... well, that's an amazing thing. 

"Now, I want none of you coming back today feeling guilty, depressed, or angry about what happened today," Cain said, taking on a stern tone of voice. "That is, in no way, what Vava would have wanted you to feel. Instead, I want all of you to be thankful, and proud... proud that Vava, after all of his troubles and strife over these years, died doing what he believed was right. From this day forward... I don't believe that any of us should consider him a failure. I certainly won't." 

It would be impossible to describe the kind of emotion flowing through the bloodstreams of those three soldiers at that precise moment; they were lost in thought, lost in themselves, letting Cain's words sink in and take full effect. What he was saying made a lot of sense... 

"But also, I don't want any of you thinking that the Mavericks have been permenantly defeated," Cain reminded them, breaking the silence. "Though it'll be hard for them to recover, we'll still need to prepare dilligently for any more dangers that could come our way. Who knows what other conflicts may arise in the future..." He paused for a brief moment. "Alright then, you three. I think it would be a good time for us to focus on getting the three of you to safety. Zero, are any of your teleporters working at all?" 

"They're a little fuzzy," Zero admitted, examining the wrist device. "But I think we'll manage with 'em. I'm not really sure how much of a distance we can go with them, though." 

"Hmm... okay then, here's the deal," Cain began again. "I'll send some transports around towards the edge of the city. It's not a very long walk at all, so you won't need your teleporters for the distance. Sound good?" 

"Yeah, that'll work out," Zero replied. "So, err... we'll see you then, I'm guessing?" 

"Guess so," Cain added nonchalantly. "Might as well end the transmission now. Well, glad to see that you're all safe, and... stay safe, for now. We'll discuss matters finally when the three of you finally get back." 

"Sounds good," Zero said. "Arrivederci," he finished, pressing the middle button once again to cut off communications with the somewhat elderly doctor and placing the small communicator back on his belt. He looked over to X and Glacier, both now in a state of complete silence. X was staring at the ground, his face concealed by his matted hair, his arms crossed. Glacier was looking to Zero in concern, as if somewhat confused. 

"So..." the Dragoon said, his voice a bit silent. "You didn't tell him about what Magma did, eh?" 

"Yeah, well..." Zero muttered, taking a brief pause. "I thought about it, and I figured that it wasn't worth it. I mean, sure, what Magma did back there was pretty pigheaded and dangerous... but trust me, I know your brother. He may be pretty stubborn at times, but he does learn from his mistakes. Vile hurt him pretty badly back there, almost killed him. I think he's been punished enough, really... and I don't think he'll ever try to pull a stunt like that again." 

Glacier shrugged and glanced to his comatose brother. "Yeah, I'm guessing you're right. But if he ever does cause trouble for us again, we'll have to do something about it, no doubt..." He bent over the fallen Hunter, lifting him off of the paved road with both arms. He slung him over one shoulder again, keeping one arm wrapped firmly over his torso. "Well, I think now would be a good time to get ourselves back to the HQ, don't you think?" 

"Oh, HELL yes," Zero blurted out with enthusiasm. "Let's go back _now_. I don't think I'll ever get a trace of my sanity back until I clean this filth off of me." He turned to X, who still appeared a bit depressed. "You ready to get goin', X?" 

The Neo Blue Bomber didn't bother to meet eye-to-eye with his friend; instead, he kept his head directed to the ground, barely acknowledging Zero's words. He let out a faintly audible sigh. "Actually..." he began timidly, lifting his head up a bit. "You guys can get going, and I'll catch up with ya. If you don't mind, I'd like to just have a moment to myself. I'll be with you in a second." 

Zero and Glacier exchanged perplexed looks, a bit surprised at X's response. Both of them, however, soon gained an understanding as to why X would want to be alone. Zero, though still a bit concerned for his comrade, shrugged it off. "Yeah, we'll give ya some time, X," he bargained, turning to leave. "But try not to take too long, alright? I'm sure Cain is anxious to see us again." 

"Yeah, I'll be quick," X replied solemnly, waving a small goodbye to his friends. As they began their advancement towards the larger parts of Terencse City, X once again found himself very much alone, only having his tumultuous mind to turn to for company. The air surrounding him was calm, peaceful, deviod of sound; and usually, in a quiet area like this, X's mind began to wonder as it had done so many times in the past. 

For some odd reason, he found himself staring back at the desert, to the distant rubble that served as the eternal burial ground for Vava. He was not feeling great about the whole ordeal; he couldn't deny that. He couldn't shake the constant reality that, though Vava had a horrible and violent nature in the past, could have been just a normal, friendly soldier in the Hunter ranks. No, he wouldn't be 'normal'... he would probably take something of an elite status, known around the world for who he was and the kind of peacekeeping actions he took. He could've been their friend... maybe, in some far-out universe or time period, he could imagine them fighting together, talking together, working together, even growing together. Maybe... 'Vava' could have been the factor that would ultimately end the constant violence between the humans and the repoids, if that were indeed possible. Just considering that theory made X cringe... he knew that, as much as he hoped, that his peaceful existence would never become a reality. 

But then, at that very moment, he remembered Cain's final words about Vava's sacrifice. Saying that it was something the Hunters should all be proud of, be thankful for... something that Vava certainly believed was his destiny. As a battle-hardened X turned away from the barren desert battlefield, he found solace in the fact that, though Vava's death wouldn't be easy to get over, it would be the one thing that would destroy X's nightmares of Vile forever. Vava's death was meant to heal X, as well as the world, from Vile's former tyranny. And though the humans may never forgive Vava for what he'd done in the past, Vava still knew that they'd be safe from Vile for the rest of their lives. And, even though X didn't quite realize it at the time... he would sleep well that night, the haunting monsters spawned by Vile being replaced with the kind-hearted, peaceful image that was Vava. The ordeal would finally be put to rest. 

_Well..._ X thought, surprising himself by releasing a bit of a smile. _Vava... thank you. Best of luck to ya, wherever you are._

* * *

The meagerly respected 'Admiral' Agile hated his desk with a passion. Though he was never one to really hate lifeless, inanimate objects, he found it surprisingly easy to make an exception with the overpriced hunk of wood that he foud himself doing his paperwork on. But then again, considering the incredibly undesirable situation he just had the luck of being in, what _wasn't_ there to hate? 

Darkness was all that the thin, surly Maverick elite had been seeing all day; unfortunately for them, electricity hadn't been installed in the establishment yet, considering that the place was still undergoing some heavy construction. Also, since the Maverick population had dwindled from five thousand to about thirteen in three seconds, everybody was busy with other matters and never really minded using candlelight most of the time. Or, they were just a pack of lazy bums. To Agile, none of that really mattered either way - incompetence wasn't a rare thing to find within the Maverick ranks anyway, when he gave it some thought. 

A candlestick burned quietly to the left of Agile's papers, the poignant aroma helping mask the common, unpleasant stench that wafted from the entire building almost all of the time. Using the flame's illuminating aid, the dilligent Maverick pulled out a large piece of fresh notebook paper, feeling a sudden urge to record his thoughts down on paper. A 'report'... yeah, that's what he'd call it, an account of the events that had happened recently. It might prove useful sometime in the future. 

Acting on impulse, he whipped out a sleek ball-point pen and began to write: 

_May 27th, 21XX _

My oh my, how fate can give you a good kickin' in the bum sometimes. 

As far as I can measure, it's only been a little bit over a month since that incident with our last fortress, and the hubbub with Vile. Because of it, our entire organization has been going to hell in a friggin' handbasket - Vile's lover-ly little 'parting gift' left us with only a handful of Mavericks left in our ranks, if that many. We've barely been able to keep ourselves alive and well - the fortress's collapse took with it tons and tons of expensive equipment and supplies, all of which were extreme necessities to our cause. Even worse, about 85% of our ranks have been destroyed by the entire ordeal, leaving us in total shambles. I honestly haven't gotten a wink of sleep since late April... if I were a human, I would most likely be a dead man right about now. 

The good news is, we've managed to rebuild... well, sort of. After we escaped the falling of the building, we were able to retrieve some other Maverick soldiers who had barely been able to escape the blast and fled the desert, keeping ourselves under the radar for quite a long time before we discovered another area on the planet that would prove an even safer hideaway than even that godfosaken desert. It's a very nifty area, one where sunlight never reaches, a place where the Hunters would never think of looking, really. Since it's very secluded, however, none of us can really show our faces in the light of day, forcing us to stay within these concrete walls for about ninety-nine percent of the time. And from personal experience, let me tell ya - staring at a poorly-leveled floor for hours on end doesn't get any more exciting than it sounds. Really. 

We had something of an unexpected discovery before we completely evacuated the desert, however - in a bizarre act of fate, we found the badly injured body of Sigma, still intact, near an area on the desert's edge. All of us had thought for sure that, against all our hopes, that Sigma had been consumed by Vile's blast. It still confuses us, though - I mean, if he had been stuck up in the third floor of the building, how could he possibly - especially with his injuries - manage to get that far away from the blast in such little time? It seems as if he's in a state of delirium... when we found him, he kept on mumbling and rambling on about an "angel" that came from the heavens and transported his body to safety before returning to the sky. He still wouldn't shut up about it before we drugged him a bit and started rebuilding him. Maybe he'll start to make more sense after he's fully conscious again... 

Well anyway, like I mentioned before, there have been very few known survivors of the explosion. Violen is indeed alive, but we still have no idea what happened to him after he was escorted out by the Hunters; we have reason to believe that he managed to escape them with some other reploid over his shoulder, but we're not quite sure on that one. Also, Gelves assured us that he found some surveillance footage of Dark Necrobat, Spike Rosered, and Jet Stingray flying off somewhere into the city... but we can't find them, either. I'm still hoping that the fourth new recruit, Dynamo, managed to survive the blast - I mean, he was one of the most valuable soldiers we've had in years. The only soldiers we have here now are me, Serges, Darrick, M-24, Gelves, Sigma, and some spare mechanics and guards who somehow got a lucky break. And that would also include T-17 and T-18 - two traitors who abandoned the entire army and hijacked their only capsule out of the building. We'll make sure that they get their just deserts... 

Suddenly, Agile's reporting was interrupted by the squeaking of a door opening. The violet Maverick lifted his head to meet the gaze of an approaching Sergeant Serges, his expression very cold and serious. He offered his fellow elite a small salute before speaking. 

"Agile, the two traitors are here for their punishment," he said coldly, expressing a high degree of hatred for the supposed criminals. "They await their meeting with you, sir." 

"Ahh, finally," Agile said with relief. "Send them in." 

"Yessir," Serges responded hastily, extending an arm and beckoning the two prisoners of fate to enter the room. The two ambled in like frightened animals about to become the new addition to a fur coat, keeping their heads down to the ground and shaking in their boots. Their hands were in shackles, and it seemed as if they were having trouble walking as they shimmied worriedly over to Agile's desk. Beginning to lose his patience, Serges gave both something of a forceful nudge, fully encouraging them to move faster and sit their sorry behinds down already. And, soon enough, they did just that. 

At first, there was just a long, painful silence; the pudgy 18 and lanky 17 continued to keep their heads aimed to the ground, choosing not to take a gander at the utter contempt and rage that was in Agile's eyes at that time. The Maverick, being cruel when he needed to be, decided to leave them hanging in unnerving silence for a little bit before finally breaking the ice. 

"So... 17, 18," he said with mocking apathy. "Seems like the two of you thought you could get away with this little heist of yours, did you?" 

"To be honest with you, sir, we honestly didn't," T-18 blurted out. "Sir, if you'd just listen to us for a second, you'd know that we didn't purposely steal that capsule..." 

"Oh, please!" Agile almost shouted, expressing distinct disbelief. "I don't see how you couldn't 'purposely' steal that capsule, considering its massive size. You were disobeying orders, straying away from your fellow Mavericks... and because of it, you caused the deaths of thousands of soldiers! THOUSANDS!" 

"Hey, it wasn't MY fault, sir!" 17 yelled in rebuttal. "It was all 18's fault, I SWEAR it! You wouldn't believe what he was telling me to do, sir. He convinced me to steal the capsule, and he knew it wasn't intended solely for us! He's the culprit here!" 

"That's a LIE, and you know it, you filthy donkey excretion!" 18 shouted in response, malice in his eyes at his 'friend''s sudden betrayal. "He was the one who planned it all, who convinced me to go searching for that stupid capsule before anybody else! HE should be deep-fried in acid, NOT ME...!" 

"SILENCE, BOTH OF YOU!!!" Agile barked at the top of his lungs, rapidly ceasing the arguing between the two renegades. "It doesn't matter to me who conviced who in this scandal. In the eyes of the Mavericks, _both_ of you are purely guilty of desertion." He shot daggers at both of them. "There's nothing you can do individually to clear your names, you know. NOTHING. Every functioning reploid in this building loathes you with a passion. There's quite a bit of loathing going on..." 

"Wait, hold on a second," 18 interrupted him, unexpectedly. "Are you saying that everybody in this building loves us? Why would they love..." 

"No no no..." Agile repeated. "No, everybody here LOATHES you." 

"Loves us?" 

"...LOATHES." 

"Why would they love us if we betrayed them...?" 

"No, they - alright, let me put it another way," Agile began again. "Everybody in this building ABHORS you, with a passion." 

"...ohh, okay. So they love and _adore_ us, too?" 

"Oh, fer Chrissakes, man! I said 'abhor'. They ABHOR you..." 

"I adore peanuts. Maybe you're confusing us with peanuts." 

Had Agile the gall, he would have very well committed suicide right there, regardless of the consequences. Instead, he clenched his synthetic dentures and tried his best to push on. 

"Alright, let's try a word you can't twist around," the disgruntled Maverick rasped. "Everybody, in this building, HATES you. HATES." 

The stocky T-18 paused for a moment before letting the phrase take full effect. "Ohhhh! I see," he replied dumbly. "They HATE us. Well... I'm guessing that that's not a very good thing." 

"No, 18. I guess it isn't," an annoyed T-17 chimed in, rolling his eyes and looking back to Agile. "Y'see, sir? This is just a taste of the things I have to go through every day of my life..." 

"Oh, shut up, the both of you!" Agile shouted, seriously losing his nerve. "Enough of this useless banter... I think my brain is eating itself as we speak. Let's get down to friggin' BUSINESS already." He leaned over the desk, a sickeningly evil smile forming on his face. "It's about time you learned about your initial punishment." 

"Ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno..." 18 repeated nervously, shivering even harder than before. "Please be merciful on us, Mr. Agile! We'll be good from now on...!" 

"Enough," the 'admiral' responded coldly. "Now, listen, the both of you. Though what you two have done is highly unforgivable, I'm willing to make an offer to you. An offer you can't refuse, unless you have a death wish." He snickered to himself a bit. "Here's the plan. Both of you are going to be involved in a fun little 'project' of sorts, a plan that Sigma's been aching to put into effect for years now. I believe that both of you, with your differing personalities, would be perfect for the technique rarely used in the reploid world... a little process we like to call a 'merger'." 

"M... merger...?" 17 stuttered, extremely unnerved. "What... what's that...?" 

"Oh, you should be familiar with it," Agile replied smugly. "Dr. Doppler was quite proficient in the technique. He used the process on his assassin Mavericks, Bit and Byte, to create the Godkarmachine O Inary, that monster of a fighter. But with you two... it'll be a little different." His smile widened. "We'll merge you into a two-timing fighting machine, one that seems innocent on the outside by cold and viciously evil on the inside. You would be interchangable, almost... one of the greatest fighters that the Mavericks could ever have. And those foolish Hunters... they'd never realize it. In this way, and this way ONLY, can you ever anticipate redemption for your actions." 

"But, but... sir, wait!" 18 protested, looking straight in his superior's eyes with a desperate expression on his face. "This isn't fair! The two of us were never built for fighting purposes! It's ridiculous!" 

"Yeah, and you should also remember, Agile..." 17 began, not sounding quite as unnerved as his partner. "We WERE the ones who found Vile in the first place, and brought him to all of you. Don't you think we deserve a little mercy, just for that?" 

Agile suddenly burst out laughing at this remark, barely being able to control himself. "Oh, PLEASE!" he said in amusement, shaking his head. "'Mercy'? For _that_? No way... if anything, you deserve MORE punishment for that, considering the situation that wretched bucket-head put us in. I'll take no more words from you two." He motioned for Serges to come to attention. "Serges! Get these two out of my sight, and take them to their designated quarters. We'll deal with them later." He laughed to himself a bit. "Enjoy your last days as individual beings, boys! Your freedom won't last much longer!" 

"Don't think this is over, Agile!" exclaimed T-17, who was being thrashed out of the room by a disgruntled Serges. "Some day, we low-class Mavericks will rise up against you! And after that day comes, you'll be on the streets begging for silver dollars from RICH, SNOBBY DRUG DEALERS!!!" He bared his teeth as he was yanked through the office doors. "IT'S NOT OVER, YOU PURPLE PILE OF CANINE FUNGUS! YOUR BLACK SOUL WILL BE SENT TO THE WOLVES SOON ENOUGH! THE _WOLVES!!!"_

But Agile didn't listen; he just laughed to himself, watching the sight of the two being carried of into oblivion. Now, the universe would be balanced... now everything would start to improve for the Mavericks. As his office doors were shut tightly together and he was left alone with his pen and paper once again, he began to think that, despite their horrific defeat, things could only get better for the Mavericks from this day forward. I mean, when he really thought about it, how could things possibly get any worse? 

Grabbing his ball-point pen once again, he pondered over his 'report', pining about what he should write now, to conclude things. Since he didn't feel like wasting his time coming up with some cliched, fancy parting words, he just decided to scribble down whatever first popped into his head: 

_Hopefully, things'll start to improve for everybody around here. It hasn't really been the easiest month, but... hey, the only way out of this hellhole of a life is up, right? _

So, uhh, anyways... I guess that's it. Here's to a hopeful future for the Maverick organization. May we, in some distant day in the times yet to come, be the supreme rulers of the world, free of rotten, sniveling tree-monkey... things... called humans. Or something like that. I'm sorry, my vocabulary just completely reeks right now... would it KILL somebody to get me a thesaurus? 

Sincerely,  
Agile, Leader of the X-Hunters 

He placed his pen down on the desk, staring at his final words with a bit of regret. A frown began to form on his humanlike face... at this rate, like so many others in the past, it was gonna be a looooooong day. 

**THE END...(insert cliched question mark here)**

* * *

Well, there you have it. Finally, after over a year, I've finished my first actual dip into the MMX fanfiction realm, _Vile's Redemption_. Horray!, glory!, whoopah!, etc. etc. 

Anyways, I hoped that all of you enjoyed the story, and I hope that the ending finished things off well enough. I basically started writing this story for several reasons - for one, I wanted to give a 'reason' why Vile made a sudden hiatus after the Doppler incident, even after promising to haunt X until his dying day. Secondly, I really was aching to try something different in an MMX 'fic, one that might make people think a little differently on Vile's character. And, for the most part, I just really wanted to take a shot at a piece of fanfiction, due to inspiration from some of the great MM writers out there. I know that VR isn't exactly an 'epic', and it's pretty whacky and out-of-control/nonsensical during several parts of the story. But hey, I didn't set out to make it a masterpiece of writing - just something the average MM fan would enjoy. And I think I accomplished that. 

Well, before I wrap things up officially, I think I'll do a bit of thankin'. First off, I'd like to thank the **Megaman Outpost** (or the forums, more specifically) for being basically the first site to make VR public, and just being a great Megaman site in general. Same goes for the **Megaman Network**, which provided a HUGE amount of MMX info that helped me shape out certain plot points in the story. 

Also, I'd like to thank uber-talented fanfic writer **Revokov** for providing advice for the fighting scenes, as well as comic-monkey **Starnik** for being nice enough to host VR at his spiffy website (nik both have been reading VR since its early days, even when it was a little 3-page thinger that probably made no sense to sensible folk. So BIG thanks to them for that. 

Also, thanks to **Red Draco** and **Mechadrake.com** for not only providing me with a lot of great reading and inspiration, but offering an awesome message board which I still frequent to this day. She along with **Ice Blue X** run the board, and they do a damned good job of it; I can easily say that it's where VR found its feet, thanks to all the supportive members there. 

And finally, thanks to **Fanfiction.net** for being a nice place to host this fic, and for all the reviewers. Hell, I've gotta thank EVERYONE who read this thing, and especially those who commented (good or bad, I appreciate it). What kind of person would I be if I didn't? 

Oy gevault. ::smacks self:: I think I've gone a bit overboard with these final words, eh? Well, I'll just end things by tellin' ya that I'm not gonna stop writing MM 'fiction, no siree bob. You should probably expect another story from me sometime in the future - I'm leaning towards a sequel, but I'm not entirely sure yet. If you've got a comment, or have any suggestions on what you would like to see, feel free to e-mail me at SpydaBass@aol.com. I'd love to hear what you think. 

Well, I guess that finishes it. I've had a lot of fun writing this story, and I really hope you enjoyed it as well. Peace for now, and I hope to see all of you again real soon. :) 

-- Sean Rose ('SpydaBass')   
  
  
_"Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we may fall."  
--Oliver Goldsmith_


End file.
